Torrey Pines Wins Title in Academic Decathlon

For the second year in a row, Torrey Pines High School in Del Mar has won the San Diego County Academic Decathlon competition, scoring a record 42,303 points out of a possible 60,000.

Patrick Henry High School in San Diego finished second and Valhalla High School in El Cajon was third. Torrey Pines will now go to the statewide decathlon contest March 12 in Sacramento.

The winners were announced Friday night at a special banquet for members of all 45 county teams in the competition. The all-day academic event took place Nov. 14.

Schools send a nine-member team which must include students with varied backgrounds. Three students must have “A” averages, three must have “B” averages and three must have “C” averages to ensure that the competition is balanced.

The teams compete in multiple-choice tests in economics, fine arts, grammar and literature, mathematics, science, and history. They also submit written essays, make prepared and impromptu speeches, and undergo an oral interview.

Parents and friends provide an enthusiastic audience for the final Super Quiz portion, which pits the teams against one another to measure quick recall. All Super Quiz questions this year had aviation history as their subject.

In the Super Quiz, three high schools tied for top honors: Morse, Mt. Carmel, and O’Farrell. Torrey Pines took first place in literature, mathematics, science, history, economics and speech. Patrick Henry was first in fine arts. Mt. Carmel won the essay portion, and Valhalla took first in interviews.

The top overall student was Sascha Dublin, a senior from Torrey Pines. She also achieved the top score last year as well as the second-highest score in the statewide contest. Bonnie Hayes of Patrick Henry was the top “B” student and Joe Gill of Torrey Pines was first among “C” students.

Torrey Pines finished sixth statewide last year, the highest score ever for a San Diego County school. The state winner last year, John Marshall High of Los Angeles, captured the national title as well.

Behind Torrey Pines, Patrick Henry and Valhalla were Mt. Carmel, Fallbrook, Gompers, Vista, El Capitan, Marian and La Jolla.