2 County Schools in Top 10 in Decathlon

POMONA — Moorpark and Simi Valley high schools finished in the top 10 of the oral portion of the state Academic Decathlon on Saturday at Cal Poly Pomona.

It’s the first time two Ventura County high schools have been among the 50 competitors in the annual event.

Moorpark High, the county champion, scored 54 points to finish in a tie for sixth place. Simi Valley High, which earned a spot in the tournament as a wild card, scored a total of 50 points in the oral portion of the competition, good for a three-way tie for 10th spot.

East Los Angeles’ Garfield High School scored 58 out of a possible 60 points to squeak past El Camino Real High School of Woodland Hills and win the public portion of the California Academic Decathlon Super Quiz on Saturday.

Two-time defending state champion El Camino finished one point behind Garfield to take second place in the Super Quiz’s public portion, a competition that featured strong performances by Los Angeles County schools.

Burbank High School and Belmont High School of Los Angeles finished third and fourth, respectively.

Alemany High School of Mission Hills--representing Southern California private schools in the competition--finished with a respectable score of 53. Glen A. Wilson High School also did well. The Hacienda Heights school scored 54 points.

Garfield, which finished second to El Camino last month in the Los Angeles Unified School District finals, was one of eight state schools to receive a “wild card” entry to the finals.

Wild-card slots go to nonwinning teams with the highest scores.

In all, more than 400 of California’s brightest and most highly motivated students took part in the grueling two-day competition, which matched regional winners from counties ranging from Alameda to Yolo.

The overall winner of the Academic Decathlon will be announced today during an awards ceremony at the Industry Hills Sheraton and go on to represent California in the national finals next month in Providence, R.I.

The public portion of the two-part Super Quiz was held before hundreds of raucous friends and family members in the Cal Poly Pomona gymnasium.

As Garfield’s school band played the Olympic march, the students filed into the auditorium and nervously took their seats in the stands.

The nine-member teams split into three groups of three students each, alternately taking the floor to answer a series of rapid-fire questions based on this year’s decathlon theme: “Globalization: The New Economy.”

Prior to Saturday’s competition, participants took comprehensive written tests in science, social science, mathematics, music, literature, art and language. They also had to deliver a speech, write an essay and be interviewed by a panel of judges.

Deirdra Martinez, from Garfield, said the secret to her school’s success was teamwork.

“On our own we are good, but as a team we are a great,” Martinez said. “We really worked hard and supported each other, and it paid off. I’m so excited, I can’t believe it.”

Although the Super Quiz represents less than one-tenth of a team’s total Academic Decathlon score, it is often a good indicator of how a school will do overall.