LAKE COUNTY — Two teams from the county won 28 medals in the 29th annual California Academic Decathlon competition held Saturday through Monday in Sacramento, according to information provided by Robin Totorica of the Lake County Office of Education.
Both Upper Lake High School (ULHS) and Lower Lake High School”s (LLHS) Academic Decathlon teams received invitations to the state competition. ULHS won the county competition held Feb. 2 and LLHS finished second. Thanks to its high score, LLHS was invited to the state competition as part of the competition”s new 55-team format.
Fifty-four teams competed over the weekend in 10 events ranging from art, math, and music to speeches, interviews and essays. Each team includes up to nine members representing three grade-point average (GPA) levels?A, B and C students.
ULHS”s Academic Decathlon participants in the honors division were Danielle Cazares, Kyle Coleman and Marisa Garcia. Scholastic participants were Laura Benevides, Robin Grayhorse and Hannah Johnson. In the varsity division were Maria Mendoza, Robert Pyle and Corey Smith. ULHS”s Academic Decathlon coach is Art teacher Tina Moore.
LLHS”s Academic Decathlon participants in the honors division were Emmalena Illia, Daniel Jackson and the team”s top-scoring Kate Lyons. Scholastic division members were Kayla Myrick, Joe Riggs and Joshua Salazar. Varsity members were Chris Ingersoll, Jacob Sanders and Gerald Skinner. LLHS”s Academic Decathlon coach is History teacher Nancy Harby.
The state title went to Moorpark High School of Ventura, a Division I school that will compete at the U.S. competition in April. The Division II first place went to Casa Grande High School of Petaluma. The Division III first place?the category both ULHS and LLHS competed in?went to Marysville High School of Marysville. ULHS Academic Decathlon coach Tina Moore said her team placed fourth in the division, nearly capturing the bronze medal.
“They had a great time and feel successful. They”re a little bummed because they were only 170 points away from bringing home a trophy,” Moore said, adding it was also encouraging to be “that close” to the medal.
“They got 17 individual medals. The majority of them got a medal,” Moore said.
Winners include ULHS senior and co-captain of the team Robert Pyle, who won first place gold medals in art, economics, science and a second place silver medal in Super Quiz.
This year”s Super Quiz topic, the only event open to the public, was Civil War. Last year”s topic was China. ULHS senior Robin Grayhorse said China was more interesting because it was a less-explored subject, but that “the Civil War was easier to connect with.”
She said the weekend was fun and she was glad to receive a $2,000 Senior scholarship at the event, which will go toward her college education at her school of choice?Sonoma State University, one of six colleges Grayhorse applied to. “I was pretty nervous until the tests were over. Then it was party time, we had a dance and got to not worry about anything,” Grayhorse said.
Pyle was the highest scoring student by school from ULHS with total points of 6,535. Kate Lyons was the highest scoring student from LLHS with total points of 7,070.
Pyle won third place bronze medals in essay, language, literature and mathematics. Pyle received a gold medal honor for highest score in the varsity division of all California Division III schools.
LLHS senior Kate Lyons placed second highest in Division III in the honors division. Lyons won gold medals in music and speech and bronze medals in science and Super Quiz.
LLHS sophomore Joe Riggs won gold medals in the scholastic division for economics and Super Quiz, and scored a silver medal in art.
For LLHS, students Kayla Myrick won gold for interview in the honors division, Joshua Salazar won a gold medal for science and silver for interview in the scholastic division and Gerald Skinner received a silver medal for science in the varsity division.
For ULHS, co-captain of the team Danielle Cazares won a silver medal for essay in the honors division, Marisa Garcia won a gold medal for essay in the honors division and senior Robin Grayhorse won a silver medal for science and a bronze medal in Super Quiz in the scholastic division.
Also for ULHS, students Laura Benevides won a silver medal for science in the scholastic division, Maria Mendoza won a bronze medal for interview in the varsity division and Corey Smith won silver medals for language and literature and bronze medal for music.
Contact Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
