Torrey Pines High School Regains Academic Decathlon Championship

Torrey Pines High School regained the county’s top scholastic bragging rights by outpointing La Jolla and Fallbrook highs in the 1990 San Diego County Academic Decathlon.

In results announced Tuesday night, the Del Mar high school racked up 41,448 points, dethroning the 1989 winner Fallbrook and copping the top prize for the fourth time in the last five years. La Jolla placed second with 39,306 points, and Fallbrook was third with 35,343 points.

Torrey Pines’ total--out of a potential 60,000--set a record in the event, first held in 1983. This year’s event took place Nov. 17.

The decathlon recognizes and rewards students with solid, well-rounded academic backgrounds and encourages schools to showcase their academic achievers and enjoy the glory that traditionally has come only through athletic events.

Torrey Pines will now compete in the statewide contest in mid-March in Riverside. Last year, Fallbrook finished 15th in the state.

Seven of the top 10 schools showed a decidedly North County look.

In addition to Torrey Pines, La Jolla and Fallbrook, the other major winners in order of finish were: Orange Glen in Escondido; Bonita Vista in Chula Vista; Poway High; Patrick Henry in San Diego; Mt. Carmel in Rancho Penasquitos; Valhalla in El Cajon; and San Pasqual in Escondido.

Surprisingly, the last-place finisher--45th out of 45 schools--was the Gompers Secondary School science-math-computer magnet facility in Southeast San Diego, which has been in administrative turmoil the past several years. Gompers had finished sixth, eighth and 11th in the past three years, and city schools administrators were puzzled Tuesday when they first learned of the results. Gompers students failed to win honors even in the science portion of the daylong event.

In the county competition, schools send a nine-member team that must include students with varied academic backgrounds. Three students must have “A” or honor averages, three must have “B” or scholastic averages, and three must have overall “C” or varsity averages in order to ensure that competition is balanced. Judging is done by volunteers selected by the San Diego County Office of Education.

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

There is also the Super Quiz, which pits the teams against each other to measure quick recall. All Super Quiz questions this year were about space exploration.

Each team has a coach, usually a teacher who volunteers to work with the team after school and weekends.

In subject competitions, Torrey Pines won the Super Quiz, fine arts, language and literature, mathematics, science, and history competitions. La Jolla captured economics and speech, Patrick Henry won the essay portion, and Bonita Vista the interview competition.

The top overall student was Daniel Starr of La Jolla, who scored 8,119 points, followed by Mathew Feigin and Larry Lee, also of La Jolla.

The top scholastic student was Leo Parker of Torrey Pines, followed by classmate Jonathan Katz and Timothy Solomon of La Jolla.

Mt. Carmel’s Jason Donahue was the top varsity student, followed by Michael Callahan of La Jolla and Bryce Hilton of Torrey Pines.