Moorpark High Team Places 2nd in Super Quiz Event

Putting it in the running for a state title, Moorpark High School’s Academic Decathlon team placed second in the Super Quiz on Saturday night at UCLA before a raucous crowd of students and parents.

Fifty teams competed at Pauley Pavilion in the fast-paced, game show-like contest that required students to write answers on a variety of topics.

Though the contest is worth only 5% of the final decathlon score, it’s a crowd-pleaser and often signals the eventual winner of the academic contest.

“It’s stiff competition,” said Moorpark High School Coach Larry Jones. “There’s just a lot of really bright students here and really good coaches.”

About 450 students are battling it out for the title of state champion. The overall decathlon winner will be announced at a banquet today at the LAX Marriott Hotel.

As a top scorer and a national winner in 1999, Moorpark came into the weekend as one of the favorites.

El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills is seen as the team’s main competition.

On Saturday, it was Los Angeles High School that edged Moorpark out of the top spot in the Super Quiz, scoring 57 out of a possible 60 points. Moorpark scored 56 points.

Moorpark put itself in the state competition in February by winning the county Academic Decathlon for the sixth time in a decade.

The state champion goes on to next month’s national finals in Anchorage.

During the two-day competition, students delivered speeches, gave interviews, wrote essays and took tests in music, math, literature, art, economics and social studies.

In preparation for the quiz and written tests, the Moorpark team studied from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, Jones said.

“The kids are just doing awesome,” Jones said. “They didn’t even stop for dinner and lunch. I tried to talk them into going to a restaurant and they said ‘Nope.’ Another team tried to get them to go swimming, and they said, ‘Nope.’ ”

After a morning of speeches, several members of the Moorpark team said they felt confident going into the Super Quiz, using their lunchtime hours to prepare for the late-afternoon quiz.

Team member Judieann Tadeo said she had learned how to conquer her fears of being in front of the audience.

“The first time I did Super Quiz, I was really, really nervous,” she said. “You just have to learn to zone out the crowd.”

Jones said he was confident in his team members because they were peaking at the right time.

He said they have been working hard for months, staying late after school and working on weekends.

The other day at the hotel, he said, they put in a straight 17 hours.

“There are a lot of smart students here,” he said. “No matter who wins, nobody has worked harder than those [Moorpark] kids.”

During those long hours, Moorpark senior Zachary Ramirez has asked himself whether all the hard work is worth it.

“The thought has run through my head many times: Why can’t I be out playing basketball?” Ramirez said. “But I get a question right on the floor and hear the applause--that is when I really know why I am here.”

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Times staff photographer George Wilhelm contributed to this report.