<i> This </i> City Rivalry Uses Brains, not Brawn : Academics: University High wins L.A. school district ‘Super Quiz’ in a squeaker.

Perhaps the most intense and spirited competitive event locally Saturday was a true “squeaker,” going right down to the wire. Those who witnessed it will be talking about it for months.

In fact, those who watched it could probably have cared less about that other rivalry being decided across town between two large Los Angeles universities.

That clash was just a matter of brawn. This one was all about brains.

“The Super Quiz,” one of the most competitive portions of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Academic Decathlon, was staged Saturday in a gym at Occidental College in Eagle Rock before an overflow crowd of screaming parents, high school students and cheerleaders whose noisy enthusiasm often threatened to drown out the difficult questions being asked.

The topic was space exploration. The students were thrown questions such as naming the rocket used to propel the Apollo missions off the earth’s surface (Saturn 5) and knowing what MIR is (the current Soviet space station).

In the end, University High School came out on top of the 55 schools battling it out --um, thinking it out--as the unofficial victor of the Super Quiz. They squeaked past the field by only one point.

Four high schools tied for second place--El Camino Real, Garfield, Taft and Pacific Palisades. Los Angeles High missed joining the group by a point.

Saturday’s contest marked another showdown between archrivals Taft and El Camino Real, which won last year’s quiz.

The competition in this year’s decathlon appears to be close among several schools.

“This is really fabulous,” said University decathlon coach John Reece after the quiz. “There were a number of really tough questions, but these kids came through. This was really important to them.”

University, a school on the Westside, came in eighth place in overall decathlon competition last year, and Reece said the team finished “way down” in the “Super Quiz” portion, which is one-tenth of the decathlon, an annual ritual for high schools all over the state.

About 495 students competed in the all-day competition. The quiz is the only part of the decathlon held before an audience.

Winners of the decathlon will be formally announced at an awards banquet Nov. 29 at the Bonaventure Hotel.

Los Angeles County high schools held their decathlon Saturday at Gahr High School in Cerritos.

For students who cheered their teams on Saturday, it seemed that they already felt their schools were the winners.

The atmosphere was more like a giant pep rally than an academic competition. Cheerleaders waved signs and parents waved video cameras. The uniforms of the quiz-takers ranged from T-shirts to more formal attire with ties.

At times, the emcee, KTLA news anchor Larry McCormick, had to plead with the crowd to settle down.

“Please calm down,” he would say. “Every question may be the difference between winning and losing.”

Preparation for the quiz is fierce, school officials said. Students bone up during the summer and spring, go on field trips and study together as many as six days a week. They take special courses and use flash cards with each other.

“We were 1,000 points behind at this time last year, but we really worked hard, and now we’re up there,” said Don Walz, coach of the Palisades team. “It’s important to the kids to work hard. Plus, it’s nice to look good in public.”

Carlos Mittoni, a University senior who was in the honors division of the team, said he got a perfect score on all 10 questions he was asked.

“I didn’t expect to do that well,” he said. “And I only guessed on one.”