More of the Same for Moorpark

Moorpark High School captured its third consecutive title Sunday as champion of the Ventura County Academic Decathlon, sweeping top honors in all 10 team categories and earning dozens of individual gold medals.

The win means the nine-member squad, the national champions in 1999, advances to the three-day state competition in Modesto on March 7.

The academic powerhouse has won the 21-year-old county competition seven times and placed first or second at the state level the last five years.

“It’s hard to win in all 10 categories, and this is the third time we’ve done that,” said Larry Jones, a history teacher who has coached Moorpark’s team for a decade. “It’s thrilling.”

The three straight championships are not a competition record. Thousand Oaks High claimed the title four consecutive years in the late 1980s.

During a highly charged, four-hour awards ceremony at Oxnard’s Pacifica High School performing arts center, Jones spent little time sitting down, instead popping up every few minutes to shake hands and snap pictures of his students, who dominated the event.

Even before the final results were announced to a packed house, a smiling Jones was sharing hugs with his team and taking care of their large collection of shiny gold trophies.

Team member Grant Volk, a 17-year-old senior, said Jones’ dedication to the competition has always fueled the team’s resolve to study exceptionally hard and win.

“It’s just a great group of people to hang out with,” Volk said, “and our coach, Mr. Jones, inspires us to better ourselves and beat our personal bests.”

After most team awards were announced and it became clear that Moorpark would again claim the county title, one of Volk’s teammates said the victory was equally thrilling as past wins.

“It’s still so exciting and so challenging and it’s not like we’re just handed these [wins],” said Nathaniel Jones, 17, a Moorpark senior and the coach’s son.

For the second year in a row, the younger Jones swept a host of top awards, including being the highest-scoring decathlete of all 200 students in the competition. That award is based on points earned during testing in several categories, including music, economics, literature and speech.

Second-place honors in the Academic Decathlon, which included 19 teams from across the county, went to Simi Valley High School, which has won the competition five times since 1982. Santa Susana High placed third after three straight second-place finishes.

“It’s always daunting, but we always try and give it our best run for the money,” said Chad Bradbury, 18, a Santa Susana team member. Bradbury, captain of his team, wore a tall, homemade top hat to the event and cheered heartily for many of his competitors who took to the stage to accept gold, silver or bronze medals. The hat, considered a good-luck charm, was fashioned from old Spanish tests and duct tape by a group of Santa Susana team members more than six years ago.

Santa Susana coach Peter Huyber praised Moorpark’s level of excellence.

“This [Moorpark winning] is starting to feel like old hat,” Huyber said. “Sure, we’re a little jealous, but they are an excellent county and state champion, and they are feared nationally.”

The Moorpark team finished the competition with 49,693 points out of a possible 60,000. Simi Valley High holds the record with 50,195 points, earned in 2000.

If the team wins in Modesto, Moorpark will advance to the national championships in April in Erie, Pa.