Alemany Waits to Hear Decathlon Status

Two-time defending champion Alemany High School finished on top in the Private Schools Academic Decathlon Super Quiz last weekend, but the team will have to wait until Saturday to find out whether it will be going to the state finals.

The final results of the competition, which included 25 teams from private schools throughout Southern California, will be announced at an awards ceremony Saturday at the Mission Hills campus, decathlon officials said.

However, Alemany was declared the unofficial winner in the Super Quiz, a pressure-filled question-and-answer game that is the only portion of the 10-event competition in which all of the teams compete together.

The Alemany team scored 26 out of a possible 30 points in the Super Quiz while second-place St. Francis High School of La Crescenta scored 24 and Mary Star of the Sea High School of San Pedro finished in third place with 20 points.

Alemany coach Janie Prucha said the Super Quiz results gave the team hope that it has a chance for the overall title.

“So far, so good,” Prucha said. “They felt really good about how they did and they had a really good time.”

Alemany has won the private schools Academic Decathlon title two years in a row, but this is the first year that it has hosted the event. Alemany finished with the sixth highest score in the state last year.

Charlotte Mullich, regional coordinator for the private school competition, said the event is getting more popular every year.

“In the past two years we have gone from 14 schools to 25 schools. We had six new schools this year alone,” said Mullich.

Because of the increase in the number of teams, judges were unable to finish their scoring and decided to postpone the award ceremony until Saturday, Mullich said.

“Everybody is really anxious to know the results but the anticipation is kind of fun too,” Prucha said.

The awards ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. Saturday in Alemany’s Assembly Hall, 15101 San Fernando Mission Blvd.