With Finals Over, Decathlon Team Takes Breather

For the first time in months, Steve Mihalovits, 17, slept in. He rolled out of bed shortly after noon Saturday--only because his teammate woke him.

The national finals of the Academic Decathlon were over. No more tests. No more essays. No more speeches. And no more studying.

Steve and three of his teammates from Simi Valley High School, Randy Xu, 17, Cary Opel, 18, and Justin Underhill, 17, spent Saturday--what was left of it--at Fiesta Texas amusement park. They rode rides like “Superman Krypton Coaster” and ate popcorn and ice cream, trying to keep their minds off whether they had won or lost the two-day competition.

“I’m relieved,” Steve said. “Whatever happens, we still get to go home.”

Simi Valley’s students have a good chance of winning the contest. Before the two-day competition, the team was ranked third, behind schools from Texas and Wisconsin. And Friday, California’s decathletes beat 37 other teams to win the Super Quiz, a game show-style event.

All the waiting will be over today, when the new national champion is announced at an awards banquet at the San Antonio Convention Center. A victory would mark the second year a Ventura County school has won the national contest. Moorpark High School’s “acadeca” team took home the top title last year.

About 400 students from Arizona to Alaska gathered in San Antonio for the 19th annual “contest of academic strength.” The students gave interviews, delivered speeches, wrote essays and took seven tests: math, science, social science, economics, art, music and literature.

Saturday afternoon, the four Simi Valley High students sounded just like most teenage boys. They weren’t talking about the Suez Canal or quadratic equations. Instead they yapped about supermodels, comic books, movies and girls.

After one ride of loops and curves and curly-cues, Cary said, “I liked the corkscrew.”

“I lost all my change--like $2,” Justin said.

“I can do the twisty ones, but I don’t like the ups and downs,” Randy said.

The diversion didn’t last long. After an hour at the park, the students were comparing answers on the decathlon tests, laughing about how much time they have spent with each other in the last year and talking about what to expect today.

“We’re having fun,” Cary said. “But Sunday is still in the back of our minds.”

“If we win, we’ll go out,” Randy said. “If we lose, we’ll sleep.”

Meanwhile, the other team members--Jennifer Tran, 17, Mike Truex, 18, Kevin White, 17, Jeff Robertson, 18, and David Bartlett, 18--went sightseeing around San Antonio. They visited shops, toured the Alamo and strolled along the River Walk.

Coaches Ken and Sally Hibbitts also took advantage of Saturday to tour the city. Since the team arrived in Texas on Tuesday, the coaches have been pseudo-parents to the nine decathletes, bringing them meals, getting them out of bed and ironing their clothes.

Several of the parents, including Ming Xu, flew out to cheer on the team. He said he was glad to see his son, Randy, and his teammates take a break, but that it probably wouldn’t last for long.

“Unfortunately, they have a lot of schoolwork they have to catch up on,” he said.