Academic Victories

Alemany High School in Mission Hills won its sixth consecutive Academic Decathlon competition among 15 Southern California private schools Saturday night, advancing to the state contest.

Alemany scored 41,163 points out of a possible 60,000. La Canada Flintridge rivals St. Francis High School and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy finished second and third, with 36,743 and 34,337 points, respectively.

About 200 raucous fans gathered to watch the contest at the Alemany dining hall, hooting and hollering for their teams.

Although Alemany has long dominated its decathlon foes, the victory had special meaning for one team member who started as an alternate, only to be boosted to the starting squad a month ago.

“Coming so far, so fast, under such great leadership is a fantastic feeling,” said Jill Staats, a 17-year-old senior.

In two other Academic Decathlon contests Saturday, El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills and Marshall High in Los Feliz tied for the top spot in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Super Quiz oral portion of the competition, while Burbank High and Glen A. Wilson High in Hacienda Heights shared first place in a similar competition for Los Angeles County campuses.

Winners of the overall decathlon--a mental jousting based this year on the theme “Understanding the Self,” which includes philosophy, religion and psychology--will be announced at separate banquets Friday.

The Super Quiz, a fast-paced question-and-answer contest conducted in a “College Bowl” format, is the final portion of the competition and is often a good indicator of which school will be the overall winner.

Among the 59 Los Angeles Unified campuses competing at UCLA, a total of seven schools shared gold, silver or bronze honors for the oral portion of the Super Quiz, an adrenaline-charged battle fueled by the foot-stomping and screeching of 2,500 fans. The contest was so close that teams tied for the top slots.

El Camino and Marshall tied for first place, earning 58 points apiece. There was a three-way tie for third, with North Hollywood High, Los Angeles High and Garfield High in East Los Angeles each earning 55 points.

Reseda High School and Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades were next, with scores of 53.

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After the cheering died down, some students were still stewing over their mistakes--even though their teams won.

“I’m disappointed because I missed one question,” said Grace Giles, 17, a senior at El Camino. “But it’s good enough. I’m happy with our results.”

Students representing 60 Los Angeles County campuses competed at Torrance High School, with Burbank and Wilson tying for first with 52 points. El Rancho High in Pico Rivera and Palos Verdes Peninsula High in Rolling Hills Estates were next, with 51 and 50 points, respectively.

Each school sends three teams: the varsity, representing students with a grade-point average of 2.99 or lower; the scholastic team, with a grade average between 3.0 and 3.74; and the honors team, with a grade average of 3.75 or above.

Students on decathlon teams regularly spend 20 hours a week studying a required syllabus published each year by officials of the U.S. Academic Decathlon.

The state competition will take place March 16-18 in Los Angeles. The top-scoring team will go to the national contest April 18-21 in Anchorage.