Valley Schools Sweep Top 3 Super Quiz Spots

Three San Fernando Valley schools swept the Super Quiz portion of the state academic decathlon Saturday, with Bishop Alemany High School of Mission Hills in first, followed by El Camino Real of Woodland Hills in second and Burbank in third, according to preliminary results.

“I know we could do it,” said Alemany team member Timothy Whelan, 17. “I knew we were going to get it right as they were reading the questions.”

The state decathlon champions will be announced today at an awards banquet. The state champion will compete next month in the national decathlon in San Antonio.

The academic decathlon is made up of tests in social studies, economics, math, music, literature and fine arts. A written portion of the Super Quiz was held Friday and interviews and speech contests were judged Saturday.

Nearly 400 students from 50 high schools competed in the Super Quiz event at Loyola Marymount University.

The competition requires teams to quickly write down answers to questions as coaches and hundreds of friends and family members watch. It is the final event of the decathlon.

Coaches and students say the public quiz is sometimes an indicator of which teams will win the overall competition. “It’s going to be so close,” said El Camino Real team member Ernest Rasyidi, 18, a senior.

Team spirit can also help.

The third-place Burbank team wore bright yellow hard hats and orange construction vests.

“Nine months of work paid off,” said Erik Swanson, 17, a team member. “We emphasized Super Quiz the most.”

Among the quiz questions, students were asked to describe the El Nino weather condition. (The answer: a massive ridge of warm sea water in the Pacific.)

Another question was: What is the most endangered type of forest, according to a World Watch Institute report? (The answer: a temperate forest).

Bishop Alemany scored 56 of 60 possible points in the Super Quiz. El Camino Real got 55 and Burbank totaled 52.

Five schools tied for fourth place: Los Angeles, Palisades Charter of Pacific Palisades, Laguna Hills, Simi Valley and Moorpark high schools.

There was a three-way tie for fifth place, among Palos Verdes Peninsula, Marshall and San Pedro high schools.

Last year, Moorpark High in Ventura County won the national championship.

El Camino Real High School, from the Los Angeles Unified School District, clinched the national title in 1998.

The nine-member decathlon teams include equal numbers of students whose grades average A, B and C.

Teams spend nearly 20 hours a week studying for the contest, in addition to their regular schoolwork.