Van Nuys High Team Wins Science Competition : Tournament: The five-member squad, which defeated defending champs from Venice, will go to the national finals in Washington, D.C., in April.

A team of math and science students from Van Nuys High School has captured first place at the regional Science Bowl competition, garnering a slot in the national finals in Washington, D.C.

“We were very prepared,” Michael Mazur, 17, one of five members on the squad, said Saturday after it defeated the two-time defending regional champ, Venice High School. “We were lucky with some of the questions, but we answered most of the questions faster than anyone else,” Mazur added.

North Hollywood High School placed third and Encino’s Holy Martyrs Armenian High School took fourth, said spokesman Walter Zeisl of the city Department of Water and Power, which co-sponsored the event.

Mazur said the Van Nuys team members studied for months, quizzing each other for the double-elimination tournament on such subjects as computer science, biology, physics, general science, Earth science, chemistry, robotics, space travel and mathematics.

Others on the team, coached by teacher Art Altshiller, were Scott Schneider, Jonathan Kirzner, Michael Chu and Joon Ra Do. Together they won $500 in equipment and supplies for the school, and a trip to Washington on April 28 to compete against 50 other regional finalists, Zeisl said.

The local region includes the city of Los Angeles and a small section of Ventura County, and drew 28 teams from 19 schools, Zeisl said.

A separate problem-solving competition--in which students had to design and build a paper boat that could hold the most marbles in water--also was dominated by San Fernando Valley schools.

The Reseda-based Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies won. Louisville High School in Woodland Hills placed second, and Chaminade Preparatory High School in West Hills tied for third with Villanova Preparatory School in Ojai.

The competition was sponsored by the DWP, California Energy Commission, Energy Technology Engineering Center, Future Scientists and Engineers of America, Rockwell International Corp., the Water and Power Credit Union, and the Los Angeles Unified School District.