Battle of the Brains : 2 Valley Schools Cram for Today’s Academic Decathlon

On an otherwise quiet afternoon in “the Penthouse,” “Oddly,” “Reverend Bob” and the other members of El Camino Real’s Academic Decathlon team kicked back to laugh, eat some pepperoni pizza and enjoy a brief game of Hacky Sack.

At first glance, there was no sign of academic greatness here.

That is until 15-year-old Adi Zarchi, the one they call “Oddly,” explained how he got his nickname.

“How oddly thou repliest! Your love says, like an honest gentleman . . . ,” the El Camino junior said.

“It’s from Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ ”

So much for judging a book by its cover.

The defending city and state champions will take on 58 other high schools today in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s 16th annual Academic Decathlon. But before El Camino can repeat last year’s amazing string of victories, which culminated in a trip to the national decathlon finals, they must get by two of the district’s other perennial powerhouses, Taft High School of Woodland Hills and John Marshall High School in Los Feliz.

“Everybody’s always asking if we’re as good as last year,” said the flannel-shirted Robert Magee, a 17-year-old El Camino senior. “We’re confident we’ll do well, but we don’t really know how we’ll compare [to last year’s team].”

Now, after weeks of long hours in after-school study sessions and wolfing down meals at the Penthouse, the name for the school’s upstairs study quarters, Magee will soon learn his team’s fate.

No one believes that a repeat win will be easy, especially not David Roberson and Sharon Markenson, who have coached the El Camino squad the past 10 years.

“This is a big district with plenty of talent to draw from,” conceded Roberson. “There are five or six schools that just seem to feed off the competition from one another.”

“These kids thrive on competition,” added Markenson.

Certainly, that has been the case at El Camino, Taft and John Marshall. Of all the LAUSD campuses, the three schools have dominated the local decathlon the past decade and in 15 years have gone on to capture eight national titles.

At Marshall--the national title winner in 1995 and 1987--the team has been practicing six days per week since July, working late into the night as the competition neared.

During the last few weeks of classes, the nine team members stayed after school until midnight, said Marshall coach Phil Chase.

“The students participate because they are enjoying themselves,” Chase said. “It’s usually the students who choose to stay. I’ll say, ‘Can we stay until 6 o’clock?’ and they say, ‘Let’s stay until 8.’ ”

At Taft, meanwhile, the story is pretty much the same.

As in past years, Academic Decathlon teams today will face a grueling series of multiple-choice tests, essays, speeches and interviews with contest judges that will culminate with the “Super Quiz” at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

The nine-member teams are drawn from A, B and C students. Students prepare by studying subjects based on the contest’s theme. This year it’s “computers and culture.”

In addition to the LAUSD contest, 60 public schools from throughout Los Angeles County and 22 private schools from Los Angeles and Riverside counties will also compete in two separate decathlons.

Back at El Camino, Oddly and “Percepto Boy”--as well as students without nicknames--were studying late Friday to prepare for today’s competition. The studying, Magee said, has been worth it. “The more we know at this point, the less we don’t,” he said.

He’s the one they call Reverend Bob. But as Oddly can tell you, it’s not from Shakespeare.

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Past Winners

A handful of high schools has dominated the Academic Decathlon competition in recent years. Recent winners in the Los Angeles Unified School District and countywide contests:

Los Angeles Schools

1995: El Camino Real

1994: Marshall*

1993: Taft*

1992: Taft

1991: El Camino Real

County Schools

1995: Beverly Hills

1994: West High (Torrance)

1993: West High

1992: West High

1991: West High

* Won national title

Source: State Department of Education