MOORPARK PASSES EL CAMINO TO WIN DECATHLON.Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer Moorpark High School Moorpark High School, located in Moorpark, California, is a public high school in the Moorpark Unified School District and currently has an enrollment of 2,478 students.[1] in Ventura County edged past the reigning national championship team from 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. to win the California 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. , officials announced Sunday at a ceremony in Modesto. Hugging the state championship trophy and wiping tears from her face, Moorpark team member Michelle Kim said her fellow students succeeded because they worked together and supported each other. ``When we got tired of studying, we'd all go out and play soccer together, then we'd go right back to studying,'' said Kim, 18. ``We worked a lot of late nights and early mornings, and we did it. It's an amazing feeling.'' The team will now represent California in the National Academic Decathlon to be held next month in Phoenix. Members of the Moorpark team who will head to the nationals include Julie Bristol, Nathaniel Jones For the judge who sits on the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, see . Nathaniel Jones died in December 2003 after assaulting Cincinnati police and resisting their attempts to arrest him outside a White Castle hamburger shop in Cincinnati, Ohio. , Kim, Johnny Mendoza, Dean Reich, Sheena Sidhu, Andy Song, Sergio Suarez and Jerome Yang. Moorpark won the national title in 1999 and has been placing a close second at the state level ever since, said the team's assistant coach, Kara Kara (kär`ə), river, c.140 mi (230 km) long, NE European and NW Siberian Russia. It flows N from the N Urals into the Kara Sea, forming part of the traditional border between European and Asian Russia. It is navigable in its lower course. Bettencourt. Like her team's members, Bettencourt credited Moorpark's success to the students' sense of mutual support. ``There were no individual shining stars and they had a real commitment to work together,'' she said. ``They studied together, they made mistakes together and they did everything as a team.'' Moorpark Mayor Patrick Hunter said he was not surprised by Moorpark's win in the state championship and said the local students would be honored in a ceremony at City Hall. ``The whole community's really proud of them,'' said Hunter. ``They are very good representatives of our community.'' Though they were weighted down with individual medals, members of the 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:
``The fact that I won these medals is thrilling, but it wasn't good enough and I guess I could have done better,'' said Ketti Augusztiny, 17, an El Camino honor student who had the highest individual score in the contest. ``I'd be a lot happier if I had no medals and we had won as a team.'' El Camino has won five state championships and two national titles in recent years and has won the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. Academic Decathlon seven years in a row. Melinda Owen, one of the coaches of the El Camino team, said her team's members are disappointed and exhausted but not resentful of the Moorpark victory. ``I know everyone wanted to win, but it's not a bitter loss because we know Moorpark is a great team and worked hard for their win,'' she said. Other local schools placing among the top 10 in the state championship included North Hollywood High School North Hollywood High School, originally called Lankershim High School when it opened in 1927, is a secondary school in North Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. The school mascot is the husky, and the school colors are blue, white, grey. at No. 4, Palisades Palisades, cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson River, NE N.J. and SE N.Y., extending from N of Jersey City, N.J., to the vicinity of Piermont, N.Y., with a general altitude of from 350 ft to 550 ft (107–168 m). High School at No. 5, Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School, founded in 1873, is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans. at No. 7, and Bishop Alemany High School Bishop Alemany High School is a Roman Catholic secondary school located in the Mission Hills neighboorhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. It is located within the San Fernando Pastoral Region of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. in Mission Hills at No. 8. In all, nearly 500 students from 51 schools competed in the state Academic Decathlon. The two-day contest included tests in written essays, interviews and multiple choice tests in the categories of art, language, literature, mathematics, music, science and economics. The only public portion of the decathlon, the Super Quiz, was held Saturday night at Johansen High School in Modesto. Though ties were initially reported for first and second place, in fact there was only one winner in each position when the final results were verified, officials announced Sunday. Top place in the Super Quiz went to El Camino Real, the LAUSD LAUSD Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA) Super Quiz winners from Los Angeles High School took second, and North Hollywood High School placed third. The Moorpark team members didn't place in the top three in the Super Quiz, which counts for only a small percent of the overall score and didn't win as many individual medals as El Camino team members. Moorpark scored a total of 48,603 out of a possible 60,000 points in the state Academic Decathlon, while El Camino Real placed second with a score 47,730. The winning team members said the state contest was a close one and they were holding their breath until the final announcement was made. ``It was definitely a surprise,'' said Jerome Yang, 18, a member of the Moorpark team. ``We worked so hard, and it was really a battle right until the end.'' CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Moorpark's winning decathlon team stands with the trophy. (2) El Camino Real High School of Woodland Hills placed second in the state Academic Decathlon, but won the Super Quiz. (3) Moorpark High School's team celebrates its state Academic Decathlon title on Sunday. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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