El Camino Real Beats L.A. High in Super Quiz

It may only be a fraction of a team’s final score, but the Super Quiz equals the anticipation of a game show. And winning doesn’t feel half bad either.

Just ask El Camino Real High School, which on Saturday ended Los Angeles High School’s three-year reign as Super Quiz champions.

The quiz counts for 4% of a team’s overall score in the California Academic Decathlon, being held in Modesto this weekend.

It also ends the competition, which began Friday, and now students from 51 California schools await today’s announcement of the winners. The highest scorers from the top two divisions will compete at the U.S. Academic Decathlon next month in Phoenix.

On Saturday, El Camino Real, the defending national champion from Woodland Hills, tied for first in the Super Quiz with Fresno County’s Edison High School. Two months earlier, Los Angeles High beat El Camino in the Super Quiz at the Los Angeles Unified School District Academic Decathlon.

“It’s surprising,” said Daren Battaglia, one of El Camino’s nine decathletes. “I didn’t think we’d come in first. It was thought to be impossible to beat L.A. High.”

El Camino coach Melinda Owen said the victory gives her team a psychological boost. “We usually don’t win the Super Quiz, but the team has been working really hard,” she said. “It will keep our spirits up tonight.”

The Super Quiz is the only part of the decathlon that is watched by the public.

The students spent the last day and a half being tested behind closed doors. And so the throng of supporters holding banners and cheering in a high school gym served as a climatic finish to a sometimes overwhelming few days.

“It really boosts your morale,” said El Camino’s Dani Yomtov, who was so nervous that he was tapping his feet, swaying back and forth in his chair, rubbing his eyes and pulling his hair. “Relative to yesterday, I’m a lot better. It’s my nerves.”

Pavel Ksendz, a decathlete from L.A. High with a shaved head and bushy goatee, stood out in the crowd of studious-looking contestants.

“It’s the only public portion,” he said. “For morale, it means much more than 4%. You can show people what you’re about.”

The Super Quiz is done in two parts: written and oral. The subject of this year’s questioning was the Internet. The written portion was Friday.

Saturday’s oral quiz was an almost ritualistic process with many rules. After a proctor read one of the 10 questions to the first group of students, contestants had seven seconds to mark the answer. They then raised their pencils and were graded on the spot. Another proctor then held up a placard displaying how many on the team got the answer right, which elicited a roar from the spectators.

Los Angeles Unified School District sent nine teams to the competition.

Garfield High School and Los Angeles High tied for second in the Super Quiz, followed by North Hollywood. The tallying of points will be considered unofficial until today’s awards ceremony.

It was unknown Saturday night where other Los Angeles-area schools placed in the Super Quiz.

Saturday was also the day for speech and interview tests, events that brought out business suits and ties. Some students could be seen in tuxedos.

Confined to a local high school near downtown Modesto, the decathletes strolled the campus gripping test material and practicing their speeches to pillars and walls.

With no tests today, tonight will be a chance to unwind.

“I’ll probably be up all night celebrating and being nervous at the same time,” said El Camino’s Adam Mann. “I feel OK, but it’s going to be close.”