El Camino Real Wins Decathlon

El Camino Real High School of Woodland Hills swept the 1995 Los Angeles Unified School District decathlon, taking first place overall, school officials announced Tuesday night at an awards banquet.

The El Camino decathlon team won first place in eight of the 10 events and had six out of the top nine individual scores. The team scored 49,467 points out of a possible 60,000.

Marshall High School’s team, the defending national champions, placed second, scoring 47,492.

Taft High School, also of Woodland Hills, took third with a score of 46,284.

The decathlon competition was held Nov. 18 but the winner was not announced until Tuesday night’s awards dinner. About 1,000 decathletes and their coaches, parents and friends gathered at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles to hear who would represent the district in the state competition.

The academic decathlon is a 10-event battle of the brains that tests high school students in categories from economics to the fine arts. Each decathlon team is made up of nine students who are divided into three academic levels: “Honors” decathletes are A-average students, “scholastic” decathletes have B averages and “varsity” students have C averages.

The winners of each decathlon at the local level--held simultaneously across the nation in November--will go on to represent their districts at the state competitions. State champs then go on to the national academic decathlon.

In the competition among Los Angeles County schools outside the Los Angeles district, officials announced Tuesday afternoon that Beverly Hills High School placed first, with Diamond Bar taking second place and Burbank third.