‘A’ for Effort: Losing Laguna Hills Team Proud of Feat

Laguna Hills High School finished a disappointing sixth in California’s Academic Decathlon, but team leaders said they were proud of the effort that it took to get them there.

During the grueling two-day bout, students delivered speeches, gave interviews, wrote essays and took tests in music, math, literature, economics, art and social science. They also answered questions about the environment during a fast-paced, college-bowl-style event called the Super Quiz.

Simi Valley High School won California’s Academic Decathlon Sunday, inching past defending national champion Moorpark High for a shot at the national championship in San Antonio next month.

Laguna Hills team captain Brian Biggott, 17, said the team was tired but still pleased with its performance.

“To go from one of many schools that does battle at the county level and then place sixth at the state level is quite an honor,” Biggott said.

Without a doubt, Biggott said, the event provided the team with its toughest challenge.

“This year’s field was truly the stiffest competition we’ve ever faced,” Biggott said.

Biggott said he and the team credited their strong showing to decathlon coaches Roger Gunderson and Kathy Lane.

With its victory, Simi Valley dashed Moorpark’s hopes to defend its national title and became the second Ventura County school in a row to win the state championship.

Simi Valley knocked down some tough competition during the weekend. Bishop Alemany High School of Bishop Hills, which won the oral portion of the Super Quiz on Saturday, placed third. Favorites El Camino Real High School and Los Angeles High School placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

The difference between first and second place came down to one test question. Simi valley scored 50,032 points out of a possible 60,000. Moorpark scored 50,011.

“It’s never been that close in the history of the Academic Decathlon,” said Moorpark coach Michelle Bergman, who stood in the hotel lobby consoling her team.

“It hurts when you’re so close to something and you can’t quite reach it,” Moorpark junior Zachary Ramirez, 17, said. Simi Valley team members, meanwhile, were equally shocked that they had slipped past the national champion by such a narrow margin.

“Twenty-one freakin’ points,” marveled 17-year-old Simi Valley senior Steve Mihalovits.

Ken Hibbitts, who coaches the Simi Valley team with this wife, Sally, said he would have liked to have won by a wider margin but was ecstatic at the opportunity to compete at the national championship April 13-16.

“It’s going to be tough,” Hibbitts said. “We’re going in as underdogs.”

Because other states such as Texas held their state championship two weeks ago and have a jump on preparing for the San Antonio competition, Hibbitts said, his students will need to go to a sort of boot camp where they will study seven hours a day, seven days a week.

“I guess this puts off the ritual burning of the study materials for another month,” Simi Valley junior Kevin White said.