Royal Road to Academic Decathlon Win

The rivals knew one of them would be the best in the state, and after two days of brain busting, it was El Camino Real.

The Woodland Hills high school topped Ventura County’s Moorpark High on Sunday to become California’s representative in the U.S. Academic Decathlon. El Camino Real High School claimed its fifth state championship in 10 years, earning another opportunity to take back the national title it won in 1998. Moorpark was the national winner the following year.

For Moorpark and El Camino Real, the weekend of competition fueled a friendly rivalry with a trip next month to Anchorage on the line. When the results were announced Sunday, the top two teams hugged and cheered each other.

“When it came down to it, we would have been happy with losing,” said El Camino Real senior Alan Wittenberg. “They deserved it as much as we did.”

Southern California squads dominated the 22nd annual academic competition among 50 schools from throughout the state. El Camino Real’s team scored 45,450 out of a possible 60,000 points in an exhausting series of tests, speeches and interviews, highlighted by Saturday’s Super Quiz before hundreds of cheering students and parents.

Taking third place was Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. Completing the top 10 were Marshall High in Los Feliz, the private Bishop Alemany in Mission Hills, West High in Torrance, Burbank High, North Hollywood High, Orange County’s Los Alamitos High and Hemet High in Riverside County.

After the county competitions last month, their high point totals made it clear that El Camino and Moorpark would be vying for the state title during finals Friday and Saturday at UCLA and Loyola Marymount University.

But rather than sticking to themselves to psych out their opponents, the two teams swam together in their hotel pool, hung out in each other’s rooms and danced the night before the awards were handed out.

Hoisting trophies and jingling medals after the ceremony Sunday afternoon at the LAX Marriott, El Camino Real and Moorpark teams gathered in their suits and skirts for a group photo. A few weeks ago, Moorpark coach Larry Jones had gotten the teams together for a lasagna dinner and some pre-competition bonding.

“We’re disappointed for us but really happy for them,” said Jones, whose team lost by 995 points. “We know how hard they worked, and we have a lot of respect for them.”

As Moorpark’s decathletes catch up on their sleep after weeks of cramming sessions, El Camino Real team members will open their books again this week to prepare for James E. Taylor High School, the powerhouse from Texas that won last year’s national title.

“We’ve got a whole bunch of study materials for you guys,” Jones told El Camino Real’s team and coaches. “You’ve got to beat Texas.”

El Camino Real coach Melinda Owen said the point total her nine decathletes ran up over the weekend is short of Taylor’s score that won Texas’ competition.

“It’s good to chase somebody. It’s a motivation,” Owen said.

For the first time, each state can send two teams to the national decathlon, but California plans to send only its champion. Under the national rules, the state’s second team cannot come from the same division as the top team. There are three divisions based on population size, and Los Angeles and Ventura counties are in the same division. Therefore, Moorpark would not be eligible.

Jones said he wished competition organizers would reconsider that rule and admit his team, which he said has the third-highest statewide score in the nation. El Camino Real’s coaches, Owen and Christian Cerone, agreed.

“It seems clear that the team that comes in second should go,” Owen said.

As California’s decathletes packed their cars to go home Sunday, parents of El Camino Real team members were already thinking about reserving flights to Anchorage. Left with stacks of unsold merchandise from the state competition, decathlon treasurer George Wong hawked, “Sweatshirts for the trip to Alaska! Come and get ‘em now.”