Academic Decathletes Go the Distance in Olympics for the Mind

As their cross-town rivals brushed back tears, Taft High School in Woodland Hills emerged the leader Saturday night in an Academic Decathlon designed to pick the brainiest students in Los Angeles.

Taft students won the Super Quiz portion of the daylong scholastic exam, beating defending champion El Camino Real High School of Woodland Hills and 53 other high school teams from the Los Angeles Unified School District.

The nine-member Taft team correctly answered 57 of the quiz’s 60 questions before a cheering crowd of more than 3,000 at the Cal State Dominguez Hills gym. El Camino scored 47, finishing behind eight other schools.

Although the overall winner of the 10-test decathlon will not be announced until Nov. 24, school officials said the publicly staged Super Quiz often offers a preview of the final standings.

The final winner will compete in a state decathlon in March in Stockton. The state champion will be sent to the national decathlon in April in Phoenix. School officials said new state decathlon contest rules mean that Los Angeles could send up to three teams to the Stockton tourney.

That announcement brought cheers from Saturday’s runner-up schools. University and Palisades high schools tied for second with 53 correct answers each; Los Angeles High, Marshall High and Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies tied for third with 51.

Members of the Options team--composed of former school dropouts and gang members who were representing the city’s continuation high schools--scored a respectable 24. That was enough to beat such schools as Birmingham and Cleveland highs from the San Fernando Valley in the Super Quiz.

Taft team members who had viewed neighboring El Camino as their only competition were startled by their rival’s Super Quiz score. After winning the city title last year, El Camino’s team won the state championship and finished fourth in the nation earlier this year.

“We blew ECR out of the water,” said a surprised Alexandre Jacobs, 17.

Teammate Adam Caress, 17, said: “We were looking at it to be a little closer.”

As Taft teammates Leonard An, David Bronstein, Evan Dodge, Christopher Hoag, Robert Shaw, Joshua Stemple and Mara Weiss hugged each other, there was dejection among El Camino team members on the other side of the gym.

“It looks unrealistic now for us to take first,” said El Camino’s Aaron Bloom, 17. “If we lose second by less than 100 points, it’s going to be my fault. I switched my answer on the last question and got it wrong. That’s 100 points right there.”

Teammate Erica Yu, 17, had tears in her eyes. “What do you think? We’re very upset,” she said.

El Camino’s Lisa Hong said the team had felt pressured to measure up to last year’s championship squad.

“My brother told me if we don’t get first place we won’t get into college,” said the 17-year-old.

For the majority of the 495 teen-age competitors, Saturday’s grueling battle of wits was a personal victory, no matter how their team fared. The quiz focused on the accomplishments of 30 world figures.

The 12-year-old decathlon elevates scholars to hero’s status on their school campuses, much like sports championships do for football and basketball players.

Competitors who marched into the gym to Olympic-style theme music played by the Los Angeles High School band were greeted with a rousing standing ovation from the crowd. Locke and Crenshaw high schools sent pom-pom waving cheerleading squads to root for their academic teams.

Most teams arrived wearing their own uniforms.

Reseda High’s came in white lettermen’s sweaters. Lincoln High’s sported custom black nylon jackets. San Pedro scholars wore matching T-shirts. University High’s team wore suits and ties.

But competitors from Van Nuys High arrived dressed in Hawaiian shirts. They scored a not-so-casual 47, however.