Laguna Hills Again Takes Top Honors

For the second straight year, Laguna Hills High School is the Orange County Academic Decathlon champion and will represent the region in state competition in March in Bakersfield.

Laguna Hills, coached by English teachers Kathy Lane and Roger Gunderson, finished first in six of the contest’s 10 academic events, including the “Super Quiz,” a test structured like a TV game show.

Foothill High in Santa Ana and Los Alamitos High placed second and third, respectively. Sunny Hills High in Fullerton was fourth and University High in Irvine finished fifth.

Teams are composed of three “honor” (A average) students, three “scholastic” (B average) students and three “varsity” (C average) students. Among the academic events are economics, essays, fine arts, literature, mathematics, social science and speech.

Jeff McCombs, Jack Dietz and Bill Fischer of Laguna Hills earned top individual honors. McCombs won the honors category, while Dietz won the scholastic division and Fischer was first on the varsity level.

This year’s competition, held Nov. 18 at Canyon High in Anaheim Hills, attracted 50 of the county’s public and private high schools. Winner of the state competition will compete in April at the national competition in Iowa.

“Ya gotta do what ya gotta do.”

--Sylvester Stallone

in the movie “Rocky IV”