Team’s Iowa Trip Is All Academic : Competition: The national decathlon to measure students’ smarts starts today and Laguna Hills squad has been forgoing fun to concentrate on studies.

Sequestered on the 16th floor of the Marriott Hotel, members of the Laguna Hills High School academic decathlon team probably feel more like prisoners than highly touted whiz kids.

But there’s a reason for the team’s isolation. The nine-member squad, which last month won the California academic decathlon crown, launches its quest today against championship-caliber competitors from 38 other states for the title of America’s smartest teen-agers.

And to prepare for this grueling mental challenge, coaches Kathy Lane and Roger Gunderson have kept the Laguna Hills “decathletes” under wraps and close to their books.

Since the team’s arrival here, Gunderson and Lane have relentlessly drilled the squad, the first Orange County team to reach the U.S. Academic Decathlon finals in 11 years. The team members’ hotel rooms have been transformed into makeshift classrooms, and Gunderson’s booming voice can be heard from behind closed doors.

“What type of character is the same at the end of the story as the beginning?” Gunderson asked in a rapid-fire staccato during one of the daylong study sessions this week.

“Static!” the nine-man team shouted back in unison.

The intense practice sessions are by design.

“We’re going to be plugging up every area that needs to be plugged,” Lane said after the team finished a round of morning studies.

The biggest challenge, Lane said, is not preparing the team for the 10 academic areas that will be tested during the competition. The toughest thing, she said, has been keeping the team focused on its mission, which is not an easy task in a hotel where there are more than 300 other teen-agers from 38 other states.

That means only brief breaks for meals and recreation to clear their heads. It also means finding new ways to keep preparation drills--which start at 8:30 a.m. and typically extend into the evening--interesting.

Like most teen-agers, new sights and attractions can indeed be distracting. Before the start of study sessions Wednesday afternoon, Lane was forced to search the hotel for two stragglers who were late for class. She found them in the hotel’s video game parlor.

But the boys’ need for relaxation is understandable--preparing for this weekend’s competition has been draining. This has not been a sightseeing trip as team members discovered almost from the moment they landed in the Iowa capital. They hit the books--lots of great, big books--upon arriving Tuesday night. And the pace has been full throttle ever since.

Each morning has consisted of individual study in their rooms, followed by group lessons. On Wednesday, for example, they watched a half-hour filmstrip shown on the wall of Lane’s room on the lives and works of authors Richard Wright and Sinclair Lewis.

Other exercises have included a 50-word literary quiz, followed by a strategy session on writing essays, the group’s strong point.

The pressure of getting ready for a prestigious championship is nothing new for the Laguna Hills squad. Todd Faurot, a junior, said he spent his Easter Week vacation studying up to four hours a night to prepare for the event.

Beginning today, Faurot and his teammates will find out whether they crammed enough. Testing starts today with essays on Native American history--the subject that pushed Laguna Hills over the top in the state championships in March. Then contestants will be individually interviewed by judges who are free to question the students on any subject. The day ends with a speech contest.

Saturday’s competition opens with exams in social science, science, math and economics, language and literature, and fine arts. It concludes with the Super Quiz, a “Jeopardy!”-like game in which students compete directly against other teams.

Teams will be split into groups of three, based on grade-point average. For Laguna Hills, the “A” group is made up of team captain Jeff McCombs, a senior, juniors Jay Kim and Ryan Sakamoto. The “B” group consists of Faurot and seniors Mike Lee and Jack Dietz, and the “C” group comprises seniors Julian Kingston, Jeff DeWit and Bill Fischer.