ANAHEIM : Laguna Hills Wins Academic Decathlon

Laguna Hills High School topped 47 other high school teams to win the annual Orange County Academic Decathlon for the seventh straight year.

Results of the academic tournament, held Nov. 19, were announced at an awards ceremony last week at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. The Laguna Hills team qualified for the state championship in March in Fresno.

“We’re not satisfied with the county championship,” said Gene Bastnagel, one of three seniors on the team. “We want to win the state and national championships.”

Each team consisted of nine students: three with A averages, three with B averages and three with C averages. They competed in mathematics, science, social science, economics, language, literature, fine arts, essays, interviews and speech.

Laguna Hills scored 48,505 points out of a possible 60,000 points. Trabuco Hills High School was second with 44,161 points, and Sunny Hills finished third with 44,306 points.

Capistrano Valley High School won Division II with 36,577 points, followed by Orange High School with 34,958 points and Brea-Olinda with 33,848 points.

“We gave up a lot of social hours, a lot of TV and a lot of parties,” said Khanh Bui, adding that the team studied more than 30 hours a week to prepare for the tournament. “Now, we’ve moving to the next level,” she said. “It will take a lot of hard work, but it’s great.”

More than 40 schools are expected to compete in the state championship, where Laguna Hills finished third last year.