EDUCATION WATCH : A New L.A. Champion

It was a championship won with the same hard work and perseverance that carried the UCLA men’s basketball team to the NCAA title. But this time it was a matter of brain, not brawn, as nine students from John Marshall High School in Los Angeles emerged Sunday as the victors in this year’s U.S. Academic Decathlon.

The victory was all the sweeter considering that it was the second time in eight years that this Los Feliz-area school took the top title. Teams from Los Angeles have won five of the 14 academic decathlon national titles.

The nine students have had their eye on the prize for a year and worked diligently toward their goal. They studied eight hours a day, six days a week, for the last 10 months after completing regular classwork. The work paid off.

The team, composed of an equal number of A, B and C students, broke all scoring records, amassing 49,935 out of 60,000 possible points over the two-day, 10-event competition. Their 58 individual medals and team trophy were well earned. They scored better than last year’s record point holder and champion--Taft High School in Woodland Hills. Both schools are part of the Los Angeles Unified School District and do the district proud.

So hats off to the winners: James Evrard, Elsie Lau, Ann Rose Van, Paul Auerbach, Masaki Miyagawa, Sung Lee, Steve Na, Linda Sui and Douglas Kleven. The hard-working Marshall coach was Phil Chase.

The students’ dilemma now: what to do with all their newfound spare time. But then, summer is just a couple of months away.