EL CAMINO IS SUPER IN QUIZ.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

MODESTO - In an intense battle of wits that left some students in tears, the defending national champs from El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills tied for first place with Fresno's Edison High School on Saturday in the state Academic Decathlon Super Quiz.

The overall winner, which will represent the state next month in Phoenix, will be announced today.

Two Los Angeles teams, Garfield and Los Angeles high schools, also tied for second place in the Super Quiz, and North Hollywood High School took third.

More than 1,000 people crowded the Johansen High School gymnasium in Modesto for the state Super Quiz, a contest that combined deep concentration among the contestants with the cheering frenzy of a football game.

The contest capped two grueling days of testing for more than 500 students from 51 schools statewide. By the end of the day, many students said they were physically and emotionally drained.

El Camino Real honor student Ketti Augusztiny, 17, burst into tears at the end of the contest as teammates tried to comfort her. She later said she was disappointed with her performance on the Super Quiz, uncertain about her performance on other parts of the decathlon, and exhausted after two days of testing.

Other El Camino Real students said the school's Academic Decathlon legacy - the school has won two national titles and five state championships - puts a burden on them to excel.

``It's a lot of pressure, and you can't really deal with it by pretending it's not there because you can still feel it in your stomach,'' said Adam Mann, 17, an El Camino team member. ``It's going to be really close this year, a lot closer than last year.''

Melinda Owen, one of the coaches of the El Camino Real team, said the pressure to excel in the Academic Decathlon is intense because the team has won so many times in the past.

``A lot of them aren't sleeping well and they're under a huge amount of pressure,'' she said. ``They are exhausted emotionally and physically.''

Students from North Hollywood High School expressed relief that the test was over and said they too were unsure about what the final result would be.

The underdog North Hollywood team emerged this year as a surprisingly strong contender and was seen as one of the biggest threats facing El Camino Real.

``I'm really happy it's over,'' said North Hollywood team member Rachel Stern, 16, hugging her friends at the end of the quiz. ``And I feel so much better now that I've redeemed myself by doubling my score on the Super Quiz.''

Other local teams participating in the state contest were Reseda, Moorpark, Bishop Alemany and Burbank high schools.

The Burbank team donned black cowboy hats and kimonos at the Super Quiz in honor of two themes of this year's Academic Decathlon - country-western music and Japanese art.

``It's a real East-meets-West year,'' said Valerie Beidelam, coach of the Burbank team. ``I think our team did exceptionally well in the state contest because we beat our scores in the county decathlon.''

The themes of the Super Quiz portion of the Academic Decathlon were electronic communication and the Internet and society.

Three teams of three students from each school fielded 30 questions on such subjects as telemedicine, computer surveillance systems, the Internet marketplace and how household appliances of the future will communicate with each other.

A hush fell over the crowd as the students were given seven seconds to answer each question, and a range of cheers or moans erupted as school representatives raised a sign showing the number of questions the team answered correctly.

Students were divided into three categories: honor team members with grade point averages of 3.75 or higher, scholastic team members with grade point averages of 3.0 to 3.74, and varsity team members with grade point averages of 2.99 or higher.

All of the students have invested thousands of hours of work to get to the state contest but many said relaxing during the tests is the key to success.

``I sing to myself and dance before every test,'' said Andrew Gerred, 14, a member of the Burbank team. ``I'm the team's official entertainer.''

Other students said they took advantage of some of the perks offered by their free trip to Modesto.

``I went into the sauna at the hotel a couple times in the past few days, and that helped a lot,'' said Mitch Rodricks, 17, an El Camino Real team member. ``But I just figured I know as much as I know and there's nothing I can do but try my best.''

But the two-day contest hasn't been all work and no play. The students were treated to an ice cream social Friday night and a formal dance at Johansen High on Saturday night.

``They know when to turn the pressure on and when to turn it off,'' said Cliff Ker, coordinator of the Academic Decathlon for the Los Angeles Unified School District. ``They are confident and focused when they study, but they can act goofy at the ice cream socials too.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) El Camino Real team members, from left, Behnam Bozorg, Seung Lim and Dani Yomtov celebrate their first-place tie in the Academic Decathlon's Super Quiz on Saturday.

(2) Ketti Augusztiny of El Camino Real breaks down after the Super Quiz, in which the Woodland Hills team tied for first.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News