Laguna Hills Dethroned in Academic Decathlon
Academic powerhouse Laguna Hills High School was dethroned at the 13th annual California Academic Decathlon here Sunday by El Camino Real and West high schools in Los Angeles County.
Laguna Hills, which has represented Orange County in the state event for four consecutive years, finished third with 46,438 points out of a total of 60,000. For the past two years, it was the California representative at the national competition, and in both those years finished second to the team from Texas.
El Camino Real High School, which represented Los Angeles Unified School District, took first place, beating 45 other California schools with 48,610 points in the two-day event. El Camino will now represent California in the national competition, scheduled in April in Boise, Ida.
West High School in Torrance, which represented Los Angeles County, came in second with 46,974 points.
Laguna Hills’ top scorer was its captain, student Teddy Chen.
The two-day contest included exams in a variety of academic subjects, as well as contests in speech, personal interview and a college bowl-type competition.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
