Championship Style

How are the champion scholars of Moorpark High School celebrating their first-place finish at the California Academic Decathlon?

By studying even harder.

That’s right, the eight members of Moorpark’s team outscored every other team in the state last week in Stockton to win the title of California champs--the first Ventura County school to do so. But their eyes are on the national championship to be held next month at Cal State Fullerton.

“The Texas team is 2,000 points ahead of us,” said Mitul Patel, a 17-year-old senior, “so we have a lot of work to do.”

The Moorpark team--Patel, junior Ari Shaw, and seniors Arturo Barragan, Alexandra Dove, John Ellis, Valerie Lake, Nick Lange and Rebecca Wershba--earned 49,391 of a possible 60,000 points. That put them 864 points ahead of El Camino Real High of Woodland Hills, the reigning national champ and state winner for the past four years.

“We’ve come this far not because we’re the smartest kids,” said Wershba, 18, “but because we’re the ones willing to work and stay after school and study and read. It’s hard work.”

As they step up the pace, team members say they want to win the national crown for coach Larry Jones, who has announced that this year will be his last after coaching the Moorpark team for seven years.

We congratulate Coach Jones and the Moorpark decathletes for their hard-earned success. Next stop, nationals!