FOR DECATHLON KIDS, IT'S ALL ACADEMIC : SACRED HEART SCHOLARS SCORE HIGH MARKS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

For three months, 10 Sacred Heart School pupils put in time beyond their classmates' schoolwork and homework, studying the Bible, poring over study guides with teachers and reading award-winning books.

The hard work and study paid off for the seventh- and eighth-graders, who walked away from the seventh annual Los Angeles Archdiocesan Junior High Academic Decathlon with an armful of trophies.

``We all knew we didn't have to win anything or that anyone would get mad at us if we didn't win,'' said Sarah Mottino, a 13-year-old eighth-grader and Academic Decathlon team co-captain. ``There was some pressure. Like last year, we didn't win much. We sort of wanted to win more.''

The team took first place for small schools, beating 60 other schools of similar size; first place in its deanery, or district; second place overall; second place for the ``super quiz''; and fifth place for the logic contest.

A total of 65 Catholic schools participated in the contest March 1 at Pius X - St. Matthias High School in Downey. It was the fourth year of competition for Sacred Heart, a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school with an enrollment of 320.

``I'm very excited,'' said Peggy Horner, a teacher and one of the team coaches. ``I knew we would do pretty well because of how hard they studied.''

The competition involved two team contests - the logic and super quizzes - and eight individual events covering geography and civics, religion, fine arts, literature, science, math, English and spelling, and speech.

Team members are Mottino, Chris Abraham, Danny Ament, Nathan Freund, Travis Gatza, Heather Gliniak, Danny Gusman, Eric Rico, Joey Schuster and Aileen Suzara.

The individual winners were Abraham, second place in geography; Rico, sixth place in religion; Suzara, fifth place in fine arts; and Mottino, ninth place in literature.

Abraham, one of the team captains, said he likes to learn about current events and different places around the world.

``It was fun. It was a good experience. It prepares me for high school,'' said Abraham, 13. ``I had experience from last year. It made it a little easier on me and my teammates.''

For the fine arts category, Suzara said she and a teacher worked together to learn about musical scales, composers, instruments and notes.

``In the contest, I listened to music and had to say what the rhythm was and who composed it. They played classical music and modern music like `West Side Story,' '' said seventh-grader Suzara, 12, who does ballet and plays the piano.

Rico, a first-time competitor, said the individual competition on religion covered the Catholic Church hierarchy, the Reformation, and the sacraments of the church.

``It was a good experience,'' said Rico, 13. ``I think that it's good for schools to compete. It encourages students to do better in high school and college.''

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Photo: (color) Sacred Heart School in Lancaster took back several honors from the Los Angeles Archdiocesan Junior High Academic Decathlon.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News