Moorpark High Wins Academic Decathlon : Education: The team, which has suffered personal tragedies, will represent the county in the state competition in March.

The Moorpark High School academic decathlon team has seen more than its share of sadness.

Coach Larry Jones can reel off the list of tragedies:

In June, 17-year-old Shane Umberger, the first student the coach picked for the team, died in a car crash on the way home from a Grateful Dead concert.

In September, another key player, Karissa Lee, had to be rushed to the school nurse’s office in the middle of practice, her congenitally disabled heart racing at more than 300 beats per minute.

Another student’s father was fatally shot several years ago by robbers in Mexico. And a fourth student’s father was hospitalized recently with leukemia.

At the end of a long day on Saturday, though, the Moorpark High team acted like a bunch of trouble-free teen-agers, hugging each other and leaping with joy.

*

On Saturday, the team blew away the other 13 high schools competing in Ventura County’s annual battle of the brains, winning the right to represent the county at the state decathlon to be held in March in Fresno.

“These kids have just overcome a whole lot,” Jones said.

During the daylong contest, teams of nine students took oral and written tests in economics, fine arts, language and literature, math, science, social science and communications.

Moorpark, the defending champion, jumped into the lead at the very beginning of the competition and never looked back, winning nine of 10 events, including the climactic Super Quiz. The team finished with 42,920 points, easily outpacing second-place Ventura’s Buena High, which earned 38,717 points.

La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks placed third with 37,282 points, and Thousand Oaks High finished fourth with a score of 36,953.

Most of the other competitors did not know about the obstacles Moorpark had overcome, but said they respected the team for its accomplishments.

“They work really, really hard,” said La Reina senior Teresa Murvin.

The Moorpark team turned adversity into advantage.

*

Senior Erik Spiller said Umberger’s death was “a real emotional setback.”

Said Jones: “Losing him really hurt. He was one of those flat-out geniuses.”

But the death served to motivate surviving team members, who said Umberger’s spirit was with them Saturday.

Lee turned her heart problem into a talk that won first place in the speech category. “Life is a race,” she told judges in a speech that made her teammates cry when they heard it in practice. Because of her heart condition, she said in an interview, she couldn’t compete in sports so she turned to the academic decathlon instead.

Juan Gonzalez, whose father was fatally shot, fashioned his speech on the effect of violent crime on a family.

When it came to crunch time, however, the students left personal problems behind. Armed only with pencils and seated at desks on the floor of the basketball court at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard, they answered multiple choice questions about biotechnology, a topic that decathletes nationwide had prepared for in advance.

This was the Super Quiz, and the stands were packed with fans waving signs and cheering when rounds finished and scores were posted.

Moorpark seemed to be at a disadvantage in this round. The team was seated along the baseline and had to crane their necks to see the blurry small print of the question projected onto a slide screen about 30 feet away.

But the Moorpark competitors were unfazed. Most of the time, they circled an answer before the moderator even finished reading the question.

Tied 31-31 with Buena in the Super Quiz after two rounds, the Moorpark team came through in the clutch, winning 48-46.

Moorpark, like some other schools, gives class credit and devotes school time to academic decathlon practices.

Some coaches say such methods go too far.

“Some schools may be going overboard,” said Channel Island High School coach Dave Curci, objecting to Moorpark’s practice of turning academic decathlon into a class and allowing students to skip classes to review decathlon material on Thursday and Friday before the competition.

But Jones, the Moorpark coach, said giving such emphasis to the competition is an investment in the future.

“These are the cream-of-the-crop kids who are going to make a difference in society, so why not put the money into them?” Jones asked.

School officials said the contest highlights the importance of academic excellence.

“Normally, our competitions deal with athletics. This is an opportunity for those students who excel in academics to demonstrate their ability,” said Sandra Shackelford, Ventura County’s assistant superintendent of schools.

Newbury Park High School won the award for most improved school, and Moorpark’s Andrew Philip was the individual high scorer.