RALLY TODAY FOR DECATHLON CHAMPIONS.

Byline: Lisa M. Sodders Staff Writer

Moorpark High School's national champion Academic Decathlon team was welcomed home at a special gathering Sunday night, and there's another victory rally scheduled for 10 a.m. today at the high school.

Team member Lindsay Hebert said there was one more bit of business the team needed to attend to privately.

``We're going to have a bonfire of all our (Acadeca) stuff and roast marshmallows over it,'' she said, grinning.

Moorpark's nine-member team - Adam Abed, 18; Max Geiger, 17; Lindsay Hebert, 17; Paul Ideal, 18; Nathaniel Jones, 17; Kevin Randolph, 17; Ashlee Scott, 17; Grant Volk, 17; and Tracy Yagi, 16 - won the 22nd annual U.S. Academic Decathlon in Erie, Pa., Saturday night.

The Moorpark team last won nationals in 1999 and has come in either first or second in state competition each of the past five years.

Now that the medals have been won, it's back to the books for the students, who have Advanced Placement tests, school homework, SATs and classes to study for in the weeks before school ends.

``These are the fun tests,'' Moorpark team alternate Talia Sampson, 16, commented after the final tests in the Academic Decathlon. ``Now we have to go back and do all the serious testing.''

The 10-subject Academic Decathlon competition included multiple-choice tests in mathematics, economics, language and literature, music, art and science. There also was the Super Quiz on oceanography, plus interviews, speeches and essays.

Friday night, after the Super Quiz was over and team members Yagi, Ideal and Scott had given their speeches at the special Speech Showcase, most of the Moorpark team members decided they were exhausted and simply went back to their bed-and-breakfast to sleep.

Some other students from teams including Hawaii, Kansas, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Illinois and Georgia trooped to a ``Let-Down Party'' at Splash Lagoon, a new, $18 million indoor water park in Erie. There they slid down water slides with names like Maui Wowie and The Black Hole, got doused with 1,000 gallons of water from a giant, tipping Tiki bucket, played video games and just relaxed.

For Katie Cobb, 16, of Chicago, from the Northside College Prep High School team of Illinois, going backward down a water slide was the perfect way to ``decompress'' after days of getting by on only three hours of sleep.

``It's nice to meet the other teams in a more relaxed atmosphere,'' Cobb said. ``How else would I get to meet people from New Hampshire and Idaho? It's a fabulous event, and I love it - I have to tell you that I'd be bored stiff without Acadeca.''

On Saturday before the big awards banquet, many of the Moorpark students and their families went sightseeing to Lake Erie or Niagara Falls, went shopping or just took in a movie or two. Randolph, an avid golfer, found a local driving range and swung at some golf balls with Ideal and some of the parents.

``I got some blisters on my hands,'' Randolph said, smiling. ``I haven't used my hands for anything physical except writing exams for a while.''

Parents and coaches from several different teams, including Moorpark, all commented on the friendliness of the Erie residents, who welcomed the scholars and their families.

``Kudos to the people of Erie,'' said Wisconsin's coach, Duane Stein. ``They may be a small city, but they have a huge heart.''

Pennsylvania offered some new experiences for the Californians, particularly those who are longtime residents.

A light snowfall Tuesday provided some novelty but was gone by Wednesday, leaving pleasant weather with temperatures in the 50s and 60s the rest of the week.

Yagi said she particularly liked Erie's architecture.

``It's older and cooler,'' she said. ``They have attics and basements and three stories. We live in tract housing that all looks the same ... every house on the street we're staying at is unique.''

Linda, 42, and Karl Geiger, 43, Max's parents, who also brought younger siblings Zachary, 13, and Kari, 11, took a trip to see Niagara Falls, just a little less than two hours away from Erie.

Coming from a desert environment, they said they found it quite a change to see the waves on Lake Erie and gallons upon gallons pouring down from the Falls, Karl Geiger said.

``We're from California; we don't understand this water thing,'' Karl Geiger said, laughing. ``All of our water is piped or aqueducted; the only time we see that much water is in the ocean. And it's fresh water, and it's just going to waste.''

But Robert Oliver, dean of Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy in Erie, had another perspective after a recent trip to Los Angeles: ``In Erie, a traffic jam is three cars at a red light. In L.A., it's eight lanes, bumper-to-bumper, as far as you can see.''