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Granada Hills Charter wins state academic decathlon

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Granada Hills Charter High School, the defending national champion in the academic decathlon, continued its march toward another title Sunday with a victory in the statewide contest.

The San Fernando Valley school beat out 68 teams in the three-day California Academic Decathlon in Sacramento. The competition included multiple choice tests, interviews, essays, speeches and a “Super Quiz” round in front of a live audience. The topic of the contests this year is India.

Students competed in three divisions based on grade-point average. Granada Hills’ students won all three divisions and the team’s combined score was the highest recorded for a state competition, school officials said.

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Granada Hills took the Los Angeles Unified School District crown last month, and the win Sunday sends the team to the national championship next month in Anchorage.

“They will have a little bit of a break and then hit the books and refresh themselves and address the areas they need to work on,” said Granada Hills coach Rachael Phipps.

The team is a favorite heading into nationals, but Phipps said the students have been following contests in other states and expect strong competition from the Texas team and potentially other squads.

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“It’s actually going to be close,” Phipps said.

Los Angeles is a perennial powerhouse in the statewide contest; eight of the top ten finishers in Sacramento were from the county, including Franklin, Marshall, El Camino Real Charter, South Pasadena, Edgewood, Garfield and West.

Twitter: @latimesharriet

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