ACES IN ACADEMICS AREA SCHOLARS READY FOR SHOT AT STATE DECATHLON TITLE.Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer They'd crammed for biology until amoebas made them sick. They'd read Mary Shelley's ``Frankenstein'' until the monster gave them fits. And they'd mulled over math until their minds became mush (MultiUser Shared Hallucination) See MUD. 1. (games) MUSH - Multi-User Shared Hallucination. 2. (messaging) MUSH - Mail Users' Shell. . Crack contenders for the state Academic Decathlon decathlon (dĭkăth`lŏn), in modern Olympic games, a contest for men held over two days and composed of 10 track-and-field events. , which runs today through Sunday in Los Angeles, have been stuffing their brains with facts to win the country's leading head sport. For students from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. and surrounding areas, that means few hours of rest. ``I was making deals with the alarm clock this morning to make me sleep more,'' said Scott Lulovics, 18, of West Hills, one of nine El Camino Real High School El Camino Real High School (also known locally as "ECR" and by some more recently as "ELCO") is a public secondary school located in the Woodland Hills district of the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. students participating in the competition. Starting today, 50 teams statewide will compete in 10 academic categories from math to music at the LAX Marriott Hotel, Loyola Marymount University and Pauley Pavilion at the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. . The winning team will represent the state at the U.S. Academic Decathlon April 16-22 in Anchorage, Alaska. Local contenders include El Camino Real El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road or The King's Highway) was the name of a series of pre-automobile highways linking the various New World colonies of Spain:
El Camino Real - winner of eight city titles, four state championships and a 1998 national title - is a leading favorite to win this year's state competition. Moorpark High School, which took the national title in 1999, also expects a win. Studying nearly nonstop to maintain focus, students at Moorpark High called their Academic Decathlon efforts ``a way of life.'' ``I think we'll do really well,'' said Zachary Ramirez, 18, the team captain. ``I think we'll surprise a few people.'' Not to be counted out are teams like North Hollywood High, a wild-card entry whose students didn't have a coach until two months into the fall semester. ``It's a little overwhelming,'' said coach Altair Maine, who turned 21 Thursday, and is scarcely older than his students. ``We've been pushing 16-hour days for quite a while,'' he said. ``This is the best our school has ever done.'' The school's high scores during last month's city championship earned it a berth as one of 11 wild-card entries at the state competition. Burbank High, another wild-card entry, and Bishop Alemany High School, the only private school from Southern California to make the competition, also are competing for top honors. Burbank High students have studied together so long that each knows what the others will order for dinner. ``The team this year is the strongest we have ever had in the history of Burbank High School,'' said Erik Swanson, a veteran decathlon competitor. ``We know everyone's idiosyncrasies. We are like a large family.'' At Bishop Alemany, which has won the private schools regional contest for six straight years, students study in a ``bunker'' isolated in a far corner of the campus with painted clouds depicting former school decathlon champs. ``I'm raking them over the coals on their writing style,'' co-coach Janie Prucha said before Thursday's campus pep rally. ``We always expect a good showing.'' Daily News Staff Writers Bhavna Mistry and Helen Gao contributed to this report. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Academic Decathlon team members from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, the city's champions, play cards during a break from studying for the statewide competition, which begins today here in Los Angeles. (2) El Camino Real's Ryan Ruby, 17, studies an English book to prepare for the Academic Decathlon. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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