Decathletes win perfect score on state Super Quiz
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

The Moorpark High School Academic Decathlon team didn't win first place at the 28th annual California Academic Decathlon competition in Los Angeles last weekend, but the dedicated students are winners in the eyes of Coach Larry Jones.

Moorpark scored a total of 49,584 points. Granada Hills surpassed that score with 50,276 points, and El Camino High, the winning team, achieved 50,486 points. The three California teams also topped national scores.

"We started out as an underdog and the kids didn't let that faze them. We got beat by great kids with great coaches, and that's okay. I have no regrets," said Jones.

The team members gave everything they had, and any one of the four top teams deserved to win, he said.

Moorpark was 2,600 points behind the highest-scoring group last month, but the team narrowed the final margin to 900 points, Jones said.

Even though they weren't first, the nine members of the Moorpark team- Zachary Geiger, Kevin Sitek, Angela Chen, Alexander Orechoff, Nathan Spinks, Elisabeth Savic, Jonah Buck, Christie Calle and Stephanie Pitman- established a record when all of them achieved perfect scores on the Super Quiz. That's never been done before, Jones said.

The Super Quiz is a two-part test. Participants were asked questions about the climatology of China in the written part, which counts for half the score. They were then required to orally answer questions within seven seconds in front of a live audience.

"It was just one of the most exciting moments in my educational career," said Jones, who's been coaching the Moorpark team for most of the last 13 years.

"It's the only public event in the competitions, and it's a lot of pressure on the kids," said Jones. "They were the first team in any competition anywhere in the U.S. to get a perfect round. That never happened before."

The team lost ground in the essay contest. That competition is challenging because it's subjective, Jones said.

"There are no shenanigans, but readers don't seem to grasp the essays. I had a great team of writers," the coach said.

Every Moorpark decathlete earned individual medals during the competition, said Jones, who plans to coach for just one more year.

During the long study sessions, he said, he sees the students more than his family. He eats dinner with them every night and said he couldn't have done this without the support of his wife, Marylyn Green.

Students often start out the year not knowing one other because they don't take the same classes and have different interests and strengths, but they grow into a team, supporting each other.

"What I love about the decathlon, among many things, is the small group of kids teaching each other across the curriculum," Jones said. The students work together to connect and combine the knowledge they have in a variety of disciplines. That's why it's important to pick nice kids, he said.

"People need to be able to work together and solve problems together," Jones said.

Jones has been teaching for 30 years, beginning in Santa Monica and coming to Moorpark in the late 1980s.

"I get a lot of credit, but these kids have very good teachers throughout their school career, and I just get them to the end of the road where other teachers already laid the ground," he said.

Support from the community also plays a large part in the students' success.

School officials, peers and parents showed up for dress rehearsals, organized a sendoff and attended the Super Quiz and award ceremony. Dr. Frank De Pasquale, former school superintendent, attended the state contest.