West High Wins Super Quiz, Awaits Final Tally

Long before the end of the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon, Coach George Floratos felt that his team from Torrance’s West High School was reaping some high scores.

But he refrained from telling team members just how well they were doing as they tackled the 10 events in the grueling daylong competition Saturday in San Gabriel.

“I told them, just focus on the next one, focus on the next one,” Floratos said this week.

So they focused hard, finishing first out of 69 schools in the Super Quiz competition, the high-pressure, game-show style contest that finished the day.

Winning the Super Quiz, however, does not guarantee a championship. Final rankings will not be announced until next Tuesday night at a banquet in Montebello, because some scores are still being tallied from other events. So he remains cautious.

“It’s not over yet,” said Floratos, a West High biology teacher who has been academic decathlon coach since 1987.

Last year, West High became the first Torrance team to win the county championship. Only one member of last year’s team returned this year for the competition.

The county decathlon consisted of six tests in academic subjects, such as math and literature, as well as essay writing, speeches, interviews and the Super Quiz. It is the largest event of its kind in the nation.

Floratos said West High started strong Saturday, lost some ground on the math test and then surged ahead in the science test.

In the Super Quiz, William S. Hart High of Newhall finished second and Wilson High School from Hacienda Heights was third.

If they win the championship, West High team members plan to celebrate by seeing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” In fact, four team members went to the see the cult hit this weekend, but their coach did not join them.

“I said, ‘I’ll go when I get the final results,’ ” Floratos said.