CANYON, SAUGUS TEAMS READY TO TEST SMARTS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

There are a few gaps in their lineups, but the scholars at Canyon and Saugus high schools hope to be competitive just the same in this weekend's Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon.

Although teams can have nine members, Canyon will field an eight-student squad and Saugus has just seven. Students dropped off each team, and it was too late in the process to replace them, coaches Dennis Lynch and Jeffrey Green said.

Nevertheless, the teams are ready to go.

Heidi Behrens said she has thoroughly enjoyed the rigorous but interesting subject matter she and her Saugus High teammates have been studying, including opera, 20th-century art and ancient civilizations of Egypt, India, China and Mesopotamia.

``I like learning all these extra things that you don't get in school,'' said Behrens, a 17-year-old senior. ``Where else could you learn all this?''

Her teammates are three boys and three girls: senior Gregory Fornero, juniors John Park and Timothy McCarter, seniors Grace Lee and Kathryn Segalle and sophomore Brook Ritter. Park and Segalle were members of last year's team, said Green, a chemistry teacher and the team's coach.

Lynch, coaching his 12th Canyon High decathlon team, has hopes for this year's squad even though it's one person short. ``El Camino Real won the (national title) last year with eight,'' he said.

At both schools, study sessions begin at 7 a.m. every weekday, after which the team members go to the rest of their day's classes.

``It's another mind-boggling array of minutiae,'' Lynch said.

The Canyon High team features returning members Brad Jones and Sarah Giammichele, both seniors; fellow seniors Jennifer Hudson, Steven McClellan, Abe Young and Michelle Coleman; and juniors Paul Seeley and David Stark.

The daylong contest gets under way at 8 a.m. Saturday, hosted by Morningside High School in Inglewood. Canyon and Saugus will be among 60 public high schools taking part in the annual competition, which began in 1982.

Saturday's decathlon, held the same day as those of other school districts across the state and nation, is a qualifier for the California decathlon, scheduled March 12-14 in Stockton.

Last year, Canyon High finished 10th in the countywide competition out of a field of 57 schools. The Saugus High team placed 21st.

The local, state and national Academic Decathlons all follow curricula that focus on different academic areas each year. The contest provides schools with uniform study materials about the topics on which the teens will be tested.

The subject of this year's Super Quiz, the ``Jeopardy!''-style contest that culminates the decathlon every year, is ``The Brain: Looking Inward.'' In preparation, students have been learning all about the nervous system, Lynch said.

Other lessons, of the aural and visual variety, have covered Puccini's opera ``Madame Butterfly,'' ``The William Tell Overture'' and Bizet's ``Carmen,'' Lynch said.

Students also have been poring over the paintings of contemporary artists like surrealist Rene Magritte and abstract painter Jackson Pollock. `` `Jack the Dripper' is what they call him. He splatters paint,'' Lynch said.

By going back many centuries, the decathletes also have been learning about the cave paintings, hieroglyphics, mummies, pyramids and dynasties of the four ancient civilizations for the competition's history section, Lynch said.

Their study sessions also have covered the novels ``Siddhartha'' and ``The Remains of the Day,'' along with poems by T.S. Eliot, John Keats, Alexander Pope and Emily Dickinson, Lynch said.

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PHOTO (Color) The eight students on Canyon High School's Academic Decathlon team, coached by teacher Dennis Lynch, back row center, will be among 60 teams competing this weekend at Morningside High in Inglewood.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News