3 Southland Schools Leading in Decathlon

After two days of brain-bending competition, Academic Decathlon teams from three Southern California high schools were among the front-runners for the state championship Saturday.

A team of nine whiz kids from Los Angeles’ John Marshall High School was the unofficial winner of the Super Quiz oral competition, a boisterous, open-to-the-public event in which decathletes from 41 schools answered questions from the field of biotechnology.

West High School of Torrance tied for second place in the quiz with a team from San Luis Obispo, and Laguna Hills High School of Orange County was in a tie for third with a team from Sonoma.

The most closely watched event in the decathlon, the Super Quiz is often an indicator of which team will take home the state title, which this year is being contested at Cal State Fresno.

“This is just one little battle in a giant war,” said Marshall’s Linda Sui.

The overall winners of the state championship will be announced at an awards ceremony today. That team will go on to compete for the national title in Chicago in April.

Comprising 10 events in subjects such as economics, literature and fine arts, the decathlon is an intellectual obstacle course that leaves even the brightest minds dim and dragging after hours of knocking noggins with their opponents.

During the Super Quiz, the teams, each made up of nine members, had to answer questions such as:

“Transmuting virally altered white blood cells and squirting DNA containing liposomes into lungs are both examples of: (a) pre-implantation diagnosis (b) gene therapy (c) genetic fingerprinting (d) genetic mapping (e) techniques for producing transgenic animals.

The answer: (b) gene therapy.

“I’m just happy it’s over,” said Marshall decathlete Elsie Lau after the Super Quiz.

“I’m going to sleep, and then I’m going to the party,” said teammate Paul Auerbach, referring to a bash thrown for the contestants Saturday night.

Going into the competition, Marshall’s students were the odds-on favorite. Their score at the Los Angeles Unified School District decathlon in November was the best local score in the state, raising the team’s hope that their school would recapture the state title for the first time in nearly a decade.

In both 1985 and 1986, a team from Marshall High won the state title. The 1986 team went on to become national champion.

Although Marshall’s victory in the Super Quiz by no means decided the overall outcome of the decathlon, it disappointed West High’s Glen Lim. After he learned that his team placed second, he dropped to his knees.

“Well, we tried and it’s kind of disappointing, but we tried,” he said. “I think I could have done better.”