El Camino Wins State Academic Decathlon

The Wunderkinder of El Camino Real High School proved Sunday that they are indeed a perennial powerhouse in the California Academic Decathlon, outscoring teams from 42 schools to win the state championship for the second year in a row.

The victory sends the Woodland Hills team to compete in the national Academic Decathlon in Utah next month. The team placed second in the nationals last year.

The nine-member El Camino team edged out a fierce squad from Orange County for the state championship, claiming 31 individual medals as well as the overall title.

“We were so worried,” said a happy but exhausted Steve Chae. “I had no idea we were going to win. I’m still kind of speechless about it.”

For a time, the race for first place was a tossup between El Camino, Orange County’s Trabuco Hills High and Edison High School of Fresno County. Each of those three teams earned high points in the public portion of the Super Quiz, and they all claimed numerous medals during the awards banquet.

“It was such a hard event,” said El Camino team member Adi Zarchi. “It was just right up to the wire.”

El Camino garnered 49,501 points out of a possible 60,000 in the two-day tournament, outscoring Trabuco Hills, which had 46,315 points. Edison High School placed third with 46,090 points, Palos Verdes Peninsula High School placed fourth with 44,540, and Simi Valley High was fifth with 43,966.

Also representing Los Angeles County were Alemany High School of Mission Hills, which finished sixth with 43,824 points, and Beverly Hills High, which took eighth place with 43,801 points.

El Camino was favored as a strong contender because of its high scores in past competitions. The school won the state event in 1996 and 1992.

The awards ceremony ended the intense, two-day competition among 43 high schools from California. The students gave speeches, were interviewed and were tested on their knowledge of the geography of Africa, mathematics, fine arts, the writings of Julius Caesar, and how light, color and electricity relate to technology.

The competition culminated Saturday with the rowdy and high-stakes Super Quiz, comprised of a multiple choice test and a public contest in which students competed before cheering family members and friends.

El Camino tied Edison High for first place in the Super Quiz. Coming in a close second were Alemany High, Trabuco Hills and Simi Valley, locked in a three-way tie. Each of those high schools also garnered several medals during the awards ceremony Sunday.

During the awards presentations, the students were on the edge of their seats, trying to calculate points in their heads and anxiously awaiting the moment of truth.

El Camino team members looked solemn for much of the 90-minute ceremony, cradling their heads in their hands, nibbling at their nails and avoiding eye contact. Even as the team steadily collected medals, the students and their coaches were hesitant to declare victory.

“We’re confident about how we’d done on the tests, but we’re not sure how other schools have done. So at this point we’re still pretty nervous because other teams are medaling,” El Camino team member Roger Magee said before the winners were announced.

Magee scored the most individual points in the decathlon--8,647--and helped boost his team to first place. He and fellow team members Robert Rees and Michael Montgomery swept the awards in the language and literature division, walking away with the bronze, silver and gold medals. After receiving their medals on stage, the trio donned dark glasses and struck a Blues Brothers pose as the audience erupted in cheers.

“We’ve proven that we’ve got a strong team,” Montgomery said. “Now we’ve got to be even stronger for the nationals because I hear Texas has a tough team. The competition never ends.”