El Camino Real, Palos Verdes Teams Advance in Academic Decathlon

They did it again, big time.

For the fourth consecutive year, El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills--the defending national champions--clinched the academic decathlon title for the Los Angeles Unified School District, officials said Thursday.

The nine-member team will advance to the state competition next month.

The El Camino team was followed by Garfield High and Belmont High. Los Angeles High School, which won the district’s heavily publicized Super Quiz on Saturday, fell to fourth place in the overall competition. Marshall High came in fifth and Palisades Charter High School came in sixth.

Earlier in the day, separate ceremonies honored teams from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School and Beverly Hills High School, which placed first and second, respectively, among Los Angeles County schools outside the Los Angeles district. They also advanced to the state competition.

During the county schools’ lunchtime ceremony in Montebello, students from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School jumped out of their seats, clapped and screamed as their school’s name was called.

“I’m so happy,” said Melissa Chase, 17, who won a medal as the county’s top scorer in the competition. “That means it’s not over. I’ve really enjoyed it and want it to go on for as long as possible.”

Palos Verdes Peninsula High School took first place in 1997 and placed fourth last year.

“We’re in heaven,” said Roberta Kordich, who has coached the school’s decathlon team since 1981. “The goal now is to turn up the burners and see if we can go a little further and a little better.”

Beverly Hills and Palisades Charter High qualified for a trip to the state finals because their scores were high enough to gain at-large berths.

During the intensive county competition, students wrote essays and took exams on subjects from literature to math, economics and music, in addition to giving impromptu speeches and personal interviews. The competition culminated in Saturday’s Super Quiz, a kind of intellectual relay race.

Evaluation teams judged the events.

Although only three teams from Los Angeles County will advance to the state competition in Stockton on March 12-14, the mood among the non-advancing teams at Thursday’s ceremonies was upbeat, with even 26th-placing teams cheering one another on.

Members of the team from Burbank High School, placing fourth, decked themselves out in matador outfits complete with red capes because they wanted to come as a character from the opera “Carmen,” which they were required to study.

Its members often burst out in high-volume cheers and celebratory dances each time a student from their school won one medal of about 100 handed out. Medals were given in different subject categories and for A through C grade average levels.

“We reached our goal,” said Fabian Primera, 17, a Burbank High School junior. “Our goal was to do our best, have fun, study, be together, be friends. Everything else was just a bonus.”

A total of 50 teams will compete at the state level, with the winner advancing to the national Academic Decathlon in Fullerton April 16-18.