Countywide : 18 Students Among Scholarship Winners

Eighteen county students are among 119 high school students in California winning the first round of 1986 Merit Scholarships, the National Merit Scholarship Corp. announced Wednesday.

The county winners are:

Georgia E. Ypma, Katella High, Anaheim; Timothy A. Spangler, Western High, Anaheim; Friedrich Von Lohmann, El Toro High; Thomas E. Ruks, Los Amigos High, Fountain Valley; Anna P. Wu, Fountain Valley High; James E. Biardi, Fullerton High School; Norman D. Sutch, Sunny Hills High, Fullerton; Jennifer L. Clark, Edison High, Huntington Beach; Craig E. Larson, Mater Dei High, Santa Ana.

Emily Sun, Ocean View High, Huntington Beach; Alice C. Lee, Irvine High; Brad S. Parker and Timothy W. Ruddick, both of Mission Viejo High; Henry H. Chu, El Modena High, Orange; Richard J. Broaders, Santa Ana High; Christine M. Larson, Tustin High; Joshua A. Henig, Villa Park High, and Tricia A. Behle, Esperanza High, Anaheim.

The scholarship corporation, which is based in Evanston, Ill., administers the scholarship awards each year. Three rounds of winners are announced each spring.

Scholarships in the first round are donated by private businesses. There are about 1,400 such corporate-sponsored scholarships nationally this year, and California won 119 of them.

The corporation said that more than 1 million high school juniors competed for the 1986 award. These applicants all took qualifying tests of academic knowledge. There were ultimately 13,500 finalists in the nation who were deemed eligible to compete for the three rounds of scholarships this spring. Extracurricular activities are also taken into consideration in selecting the scholarship winners, the corporation said.

Winners will receive between $2,000 and $16,000 for undergraduate study at a U.S. college or university of their choice.