MOORPARK : High School Whiz Kids Still in the Spotlight

Still jubilant after Saturday’s victory in the county’s academic decathlon, Moorpark High School’s whiz kids are slated for even more honors.

The school’s team defeated 13 others last weekend to win the right to represent Ventura County in statewide competition in March for the second consecutive year.

Team coach Larry Jones said the Moorpark City Council will pay tributeto the students Dec. 7, and the school board will honor them Dec. 13.

“One of the nice things about Moorpark is that because it’s a small town there’s lots of community support, and it becomes a community event,” Jones said.

Students attributed their Saturday’s victory to hard work, dedication and a family feeling among team members. Inspired by their studies for the fine arts portion of the decathlon, team members are planning to take waltzing lessons. And they celebrated Saturday’s feat with a slumber party at a team member’s house.

But there was sadness before the gladness. In many ways, the decathlon win was a memorial to former team member Shane Umberger, who died in an automobile accident in June, one month after the decathlon team was selected.

Team member Kevin McQuilkin, 17, gave his overall competition medal to Umberger’s mother, Carol Kelley, after the competition.

“It was like he was still one of the team,” said Andrew Philip, who won first place in the overall competition, as well as six individual categories. Collectively, the team finished first in nine of 10 categories and defeated the closest competitor, Ventura’s Buena High School, by 4,200 points.

Jones said the students worked hard for their victory, sacrificing free time on holidays and weekends in addition to taking a decathlon training class as an elective at school.

“If you don’t have a class, it’s hard to be competitive,” the coach said. “It’s like having a football team that’s not allowed to practice. You’re not going to win anything. People don’t begrudge the athletes a class to lift weights.”

Jones said the decathlon’s rewards go beyond medals and plaques for team members and prestige for the school.

“Doing this kind of work gets these kids on the dean’s list at Harvard, Stanford and Caltech,” Jones said. “They know what hard work is, and they know what the payoff is.”

This year’s honors team--students with GPAs above 3.75--included Philip, Karissa Lee and Bea Tantayanubutr. The scholastic group--with GPAs from 3.0 to 3.75--included Richard Fields, Chori Folkman and Dani Rabwin. Juan Gonzalez, McQuilkin and Erik Spiller made up the varsity team.

Alternates, who did not compete Saturday, were Richard Gallardo, Michelle Merriweather, Josh Runnion and Kendell Swenson.