Next Stop: Boise : El Camino Real High Team Wins State Academic Decathlon and a Spot in Nationals

As the master of ceremonies began announcing the winners Sunday afternoon, the crew from El Camino Real High School couldn’t hide their nervousness. Sitting around the banquet table, they poked at food, fiddled with forks and shredded napkins. Finally, they clutched each others’ hands.

Then the nine students and two adults were on their feet, pumping their fists in the air and shouting cheers.

The team from Woodland Hills had won the 13th annual California Academic Decathlon.

“It’s like seeing your kid win the Olympics,” said El Camino Principal Martin King, who was there to cheer the team on.

The team, representing the Los Angeles Unified School District, beat out 45 other schools from around the state. After two days of grueling exams in a variety of academic subjects, as well as contests in speech, personal interviews and a “College Bowl”-type competition, El Camino racked up 48,610 out of a possible 60,000 points, giving the team a wide margin of victory over runner-up West High School of Torrance, which amassed 46,974 points.

Laguna Hills High School from Orange County, a decathlon powerhouse that captured the state title the last two years, came in third.

El Camino’s win earned the team a berth in the United States Academic Decathlon next month in Boise, Ida., an event that for two years has been dominated by the state champions from Texas.

“Beat Texas!” chanted 500 students, parents and teachers from throughout California, who packed the banquet hall at a local hotel, where the awards luncheon was held.

El Camino’s coach, history teacher Mark Johnson, had tears in his eyes after the results were announced.

“We’ve worked incredibly hard since August,” he said. “It’s so incredible.”

Johnson and fellow coach Jeff Craig said they hadn’t allowed themselves to look past Sunday and plan a strategy or study regimen in the bid for the U. S. title.

“I haven’t really thought about it,” said Johnson, a coach who guided El Camino to a second-place finish at the state level two years ago. “I’ve never come this far, so I don’t know what to do.”

He and Craig--whose second child is due April 12, the final day of the three-day national competition--have spent countless hours since the summer drilling their students. The team met daily for two hours and often held weekend study sessions. In November, they snagged the district victory by the narrowest margin ever--a mere five points--in the Los Angeles Unified decathlon competitions.

Prospects for the state title this time looked promising after the team emerged as unofficial winner of Saturday’s Super Quiz, a pressure-packed and raucous game-show-like event, staged before an audience, that tested the students’ knowledge of the environment.

That showing, and the steadily growing pile of medals awarded the team Sunday afternoon in individual subjects, were strong indicators that El Camino might prevail over nemeses West High and Laguna Hills High.

But the El Camino team members--along with a contingent of about 60 parents, teachers, administrators and alumni who turned out to cheer them on--were forced to sweat it out until the end of the 2 1/2-hour banquet to get the official word.

Senior Brian Lazarus slowly transformed his napkin into frayed strips of red cloth. Classmate Maggie Bandur, the competition’s second-highest scoring individual, fingered the ribbon from the corsage she wore when the team won the district contest. Senior Ethan Bernard kept a good-luck vitamin pill in his pocket.

But David Hickman figured that he took the biggest step toward guaranteeing the team a victory.

“I’ll throw atheism out the window,” the El Camino senior said right before the final result was announced, as he and his fellow decathletes held hands and laid their heads on the table. “I’ll pray.”

Moments later, his prayer was answered.