Students From El Camino High Win State Academic Decathlon
A team from a Woodland Hills high school won the 13th annual California Academic Decathlon on Sunday, beating 45 other California schools in the two-day event.
“We’ve worked incredibly hard since August,” said Mark Johnson, a history teacher and coach of the El Camino Real High School squad.
The team, representing the Los Angeles Unified School District, racked up 48,610 of a possible 60,000 points, posting a wide margin of victory over runner-up West High School in Torrance, which amassed 46,974 points.
Orange County’s Laguna Hills High School, a decathlon powerhouse that took the state title the last two years, came in third.
The victory earned the El Camino team a berth in next month’s national decathlon in Idaho, an event that for the past two years has been dominated by the state champions from Texas.
The two-day contest included exams in a variety of academic subjects, as well as contests in speech, personal interviews and a “College Bowl” competition.
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