El Camino High Captures City Academic Decathlon

After two years of near misses, El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills captured the Los Angeles City Academic Decathlon, it was announced Tuesday night.

“It was such a close victory, the most amazing achievement we could hope for,” said Chris Shellen, 17, after school district officials released the results of the competition.

Taft High School, also of Woodland Hills, which won the national decathlon competition last spring, placed second.

Palisades High School finished third.

El Camino, which lost the city decathlon to Taft last year, rebounded this year by scoring 46,621 of a possible 60,000 points in 10 events. Taft, a close second, pulled down 45,790 points.

Counties throughout Southern California held academic decathlons this month. Each selected a winning team to send to the state championship scheduled March 8-10 in Bakersfield.

Because of its size, the Los Angeles area held three separate decathlons: one for the Los Angeles Unified School District, one for Los Angeles County public schools and one for private high schools.

Wilson High School in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District won the county public schools competition, racking up a final score of 42,269 points to beat 80 other teams.

“For the last year, they’ve been finishing near the top, but this is their first year at the championship,” Richard Sholseth, decathlon coordinator for the county public schools, said after the results were announced Tuesday. “They’ll be a formidable competition for the entire state.”

Wilson edged out Beverly Hills High School, which placed second. Beverly Hills has gone to the state championship six of the last eight years and is a two-time California winner.

Third place went to Diamond Bar High School.

The decathlon held for 198 students at 22 private high schools in the area was won by Bishop Amat Memorial High School of La Puente, which scored 35,836 points.

“We’re all excited,” said Mary O’Neil, the school’s decathlon coach. “This is the third year in a row we’ve won.”

Notre Dame Academy in Los Angeles came in second. Third place was won by Brethren High School in Paramount.

Nationally, nearly 3,000 schools and 27,000 students participate in the Academic Decathlon, which is in its ninth year. Students are tested in a variety of subjects including mathematics, science, history, geography, public speaking and essay writing.

State winners go on to the national finals April 19-22 in Des Moines, Iowa. The 1991 national finals will be in Los Angeles.