Q: What Team Places 3rd in State Academic Decathlon? A: Laguna Hills : Competition: Months of hard work pay off for all-star group’s nine members, who also take home six individual medals.

Members of Laguna Hills High School’s academic decathlon team left for home a little heavier Sunday, laden with medals they won at the 15th annual California Academic Decathlon here.

The team of nine academic all-stars finished in third place in the statewide competition held at the University of the Pacific, and second place among medium-sized schools. Alex Fung, 17, led the Laguna Hills Hawks with two individual medals.

Laguna Hills High team members took home six individual medals for first, second or third place in three academic events.

Taft High School of Woodland Hills won the overall state title with 48,974 points out of a possible 60,000, followed by West High School of Torrance with 46,278 points. Laguna Hills High notched 43,049 points. Forty-two schools from throughout the state competed.

“It’s kind of neat that the top three teams were from Southern California,” said Laguna Hills’ Loren Colin, 18, who was awarded a first-place medal in social studies.

Taft High, which had won the state crown four times, will head to the national championship in Newark, N.J., April 15-17.

Academic decathlon contestants took exams in six areas: mathematics, science, social studies, economics, languages and literature, and fine arts.

They also did live interviews, wrote essays and gave speeches in addition to the Super Quiz, a multiple-choice competition held in front of screaming parents and friends.

The results satisfied many of the parents, who cheered along with the teen-agers when medals were handed out.

“We were hoping we’d finished in the top five,” said Lynn Colin, Loren’s mother. “So we’re very happy.”

Although the teens bettered that goal, finishing in the top three, some team members were disappointed.

“I could have done better,” said Fung, who won a silver medal in the interview category and a bronze in math. “It’s discouraging because you work so hard for the whole year and the scores don’t reflect that.”

In Saturday’s Super Quiz event, Laguna Hills finished second, just ahead of a team from Sacramento County. The two teams ended the Super Quiz competition in a tie, but Laguna Hills gained points after judges later disallowed a quiz question.

Coaches praised 17-year-old team captain Megan Ferrell, who volunteered to help her teammates brush up on problem subjects to prepare for the contest.

“The trophy is hers,” said coach Kathy Lane, pointing to Ferrell, who held a huge third-place trophy in her hands. “She sacrificed herself; she gave up being on the basketball team and going to hockey games to help everyone.”

The team also includes seniors Genevieve Go, Jamie Miller, Renn Amstead, Terry James, Romy Christensen and Bryan Cotta. They were coached by Lane and Roger Gunderson.

Laguna Hills team members, who were Orange County’s delegates at the tournament, began competing Friday against students representing 42 schools from Amador to Yolo counties. Team members started studying for the mind-wrenching competition last summer.

“We’re just going to go home,” James said after walking off the awards platform with medals around his neck. “We’re going to have a cookout and burn all our (study) materials.”