El Camino Real Wins 5th L.A. Decathlon

Scoring their fifth straight victory, students from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills won the Los Angeles Unified School District’s annual academic decathlon Friday, edging out a team from Los Angeles High.

El Camino Real’s nine-student team scored 49,097 points out of a possible 60,000 in the intense 10-event competition. Los Angeles High School, located in the Mid-City area, earned 49,020 points, followed by third-place winner Palisades Charter High from Pacific Palisades, which scored 45,090.

Fifty-eight high schools competed.

A Palisades Charter student, In Young Song, had the highest individual score.

Decathlon events included tests in music, math, literature, economics, fine arts and social studies, with essay, interview, and speech competitions. Each team then competed in a high-pressure Super Quiz, as parents and supporters looked on.

About 1,300 people attended the award ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel downtown. Parents from El Camino cheered and waved banners as winners were announced.

El Camino Real, which has won the L.A. District decathlon seven times since 1981, goes on to the state competition March 17-19 at Loyola Marymount University, Westchester High School and the LAX Marriott Hotel. The state winner will go to the national championship April 14-16 in San Antonio in April. El Camino Real was the national champion in 1998.

First-time El Camino Real coach Melinda Owen, who led the students with co-coach Christian Cerone, had been helping the team prepare since August. Students can spend up to 20 hours a week in preparation.

“How they scored, they had no idea,” Owen said after the decathlon competitions concluded last Saturday. “They just seemed relieved that it was done.”

Marshall High School in Los Feliz took fourth place, followed by San Pedro High School in fifth and Grant High School in Valley Glen in sixth place.

Rounding the top 10, Venice High came in seventh, followed by Fairfax High, North Hollywood High and Roosevelt High of Boyle Heights.

A team from Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies in Reseda won the award for most improved.

Decathlon teams are made up of three students from each of three divisions: honor, for those with grade-point averages above 3.75; scholastic, for those with GPAs between 3 and 3.74; and varsity, for those with GPAs below 2.99. Judges awarded several other honors.

El Camino Real student Ernest Rasyidi won second place in the scholastic division and teammates Sean Rostami and Kyle Wilding won first and second places in the varsity division. The third-place varsity winner was Erik Himmel of Birmingham High School in Van Nuys.

The top three winners in each division received scholarships of $1,000, $750, and $500 each from the Milken Family Foundation, established by former junk bond king Michael Milken.