LAGUNA HILLS : Decathlon Team to Defend State Title

Members of the Laguna Hills High School academic decathlon team are hoping that history will repeat itself this weekend as they compete for their third consecutive California Academic Decathlon title.

The competition begins today at Cal State San Bernardino. It features 46 high school teams from throughout the state that will compete in 10 academic events including speeches, interviews and essays, and ending with the Super Quiz, a head-to-head competition in which students answer questions in a public forum.

“The Laguna Hills team is one of the favorites because they’ve won the last two years and also scored a high number of points in winning their county’s decathlon,” said Judy Combs, executive director of the California Academic Decathlon.

Last November, Laguna Hills High beat 46 other local high school academic teams to win the Orange County Academic Decathlon for the fourth consecutive year.

“It’s a strong team,” said Laguna Hills High School Principal Wayne Mickaelian. “They’re very motivated and very focused. The decathlon has been a real boost to our school, community and school district, and given our students a lot of pride.”

Laguna Hills is expected to receive stiff competition from decathlon teams representing Fresno, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and San Diego, Combs said.

If the team wins the state competition again, it will go on to the national decathlon, being held this year in Boise, Ida. For the last two years the school has placed second in the national meet, finishing behind the state champions from Texas.

“One of our biggest motivators in preparing for the state competition is that we want to get back to nationals and win for the school,” said Teddy Chen, team captain. “Coming so close only to lose really stays in the back of your mind. We’ve studied hard and really put in a lot of time toward this event. But there are a lot of tough teams out there and it’s going to be a close competition.”

Chen, 17, leads a team of juniors and seniors with eight boys and one girl. Under the decathlon’s format, each team has three students in the A, B and C divisions, based on grade-point averages.

“This event really helps the C student the most because their self-esteem just blossoms,” Combs said. “These students are capable and know academics but aren’t motivated. After participating in the decathlon, we see a tremendous improvement in their academic performances and they are able to get into colleges that they might not have been able to get into in the past.”

The Laguna Hills High team has been sequestered at a San Bernardino hotel since Wednesday studying for objective tests in economics, mathematics, science, social science, fine arts, language and literature.

They will also have to write an essay, give an impromptu speech on one of three topics and participate in a seven-minute oral interview before moving on to the Super Quiz, which is loosely styled after the television game show “Jeopardy!”

For Chen, who has been on the Laguna Hills team for four years, the decathlon has been a way to gain national recognition for the school in an area other than athletics.

“Usually, you only hear about sports programs,” Chen said. “The decathlon is one of the few ways in which academic achievement can be rewarded and encouraged in a competitive sense.”