LOWER LAKE, Calif. – Upper Lake High School edged out longtime rival Lower Lake High to win the county's Academic Decathlon competition on Saturday.

The 18^th annual event, held over two days and culminating with the Super Quiz competition Saturday afternoon, featured seven teams and dozens of students who, along with their coaches, have spent months preparing for the competition, which this year focused on the Great Depression.

Upper Lake High School Team Two will advance to the California State Academic Decathlon in Sacramento March 11 through 14.

Advancing for Mendocino County is Willits High School's team and Williams High School will represent Colusa County at the state event.

This was the first year that the competition was a regional one, according to Lake County Superintendent of Schools Wally Holbrook, who welcomed the large crowd of parents, grandparents, siblings, and superintendents, principals and board of education trustees.

As the crowd gathered and waited for the students to emerge from their second Saturday in a row of testing, the Lower Lake High School Blue Notes entertained and mini bios of each of the students flashed across a screen.

The students' career aspirations covered a variety of fields – molecular biologist, cardiologist, brain doctor, robotic engineer, environmental, politician, actress and U.S. Marshal.

They also shared their reasons for joining the team, including word-of-mouth recommendations from friends, interesting topics and improving study skills. One student, Tyler Warren of Upper Lake High School, replied, “My mom forced me.”

Organizing the event this year was Jamey Gill, Academic Decathlon regional coordinator for Lake, Mendocino and Colusa counties. She was assisted in the task by Tammy Serpa, Cheryl Graves and Tim Gill, and about 45 other community volunteers.

Lower Lake High School Principal Jeff Dixon hosted the Super Quiz, which included 45 questions focusing mostly on geology, and earth and planetary sciences.

First up were the Varsity students, who have grade point averages of 2.99 and below.

At the end of their three rounds, Williams led with six points, followed by Upper Lake High School Team One and Willits tied with five points, Lower Lake High School and Upper Lake High School Team Two tied with four points, and Middletown with two points. Clear Lake High School did not get on the board in those rounds.

Next were the three rounds for Scholastic students, with GPAs of between 3.0 and 3.74.

Upper Lake High School Team Two pulled to the front with 11 points, followed by Upper Lake High School Team One and Williams with 10 points each, Lower Lake with eight points, Willits with seven points, and Middletown and Clear Lake High tied with five points each.

Last were the Honors students, who have GPA of between 3.75 and 4.0.

By the end of the three Honors rounds, Upper Lake High School Team Two has 19 points, Upper Lake High School Team One and Williams were tied with 15 points, Lower Lake had 13 points, Willits had 12 points, Clear Lake had 10 points and Middletown had nine points.

Top medal winners included Upper Lake's Sarah Barnes with seven, followed by fellow Upper Lake students Christine Randall and Rebecca Swaney, each with five, Clear Lake High School's Shao-Jia Chang, also with five, and David Stansberry of Willits with four medals.

With Saturday night's win, Ana Sabalone – Upper Lake's coach and herself a former Upper Lake academic decathlete – celebrated her third win in three years coaching.

The challenge this year, said Sabalone, was the lack of students who were competition veterans.

“We only have five returners,” she said amidst hugs and congratulations after the competition.

She said that, traditionally, she has not sought out freshmen or sophomores for the team, but she's changed that outlook and now believes it's now good to begin training competitors earlier.

This year Upper Lake's first team had as a member Ian Seevers, the school's only freshman. The slender, red-haired Seevers pointed out he's also the only football player on either of the teams.

Justine Moran, one of the members of Upper Lake Team One, told Lake County News in an e-mail message late Saturday, “In the midst of all the excitement we didn't get a chance to thank our past coach Steve Harness.”

She said Harness, who was ill, was a huge help over the past few years and it wasn't the same with out him.

“We are very proud to have him be a part of our legacy,” she said. “This win was for him. We hope he gets well soon.”

The full results of the competition are listed below.

2011 ACADEMIC DECATHLON RESULTS

INDIVIDUAL MEDALS

Essay

First place: Jordan Austin, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Second place: Tie – Elsa Mora, Williams High School; Christine Randall, Upper Lake High School Team One.

Third place: Sarah Barnes, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Speech

First place: Rebecca Swaney, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Second place: Jordan Austin, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Tie – Miguel Medina, Willits High School; Sarah Barnes, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Interview

First place: Jose Ruiz, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Second place: Joshua Buttke, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Josue Ramirez, Willits High School.

Language and Literature

First place: David Stansberry, Willits High School.

Second place: Sarah Barnes, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Christine Randall, Upper Lake High School Team One.

Arts

First place: Ian Weber, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Second place: Rebecca Swaney, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Tie – Sarah Barnes, Upper Lake High School Team Two; Maria Vega, Williams High School.

Social Sciences

First place: Spence Haddan, Lower Lake High School.

Second place: Roy Hankins, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Tie – David Stansberry, Willits High School; Elizabeth Perkins, Lower Lake High School.

Mathematics

First place: Oliver Leighton, Clear Lake High School.

Second place: Stephanie Rasmussen, Clear Lake High School.

Third place: Shao-Jia Chang, Clear Lake High School.

Music

First place: Tie – Shao-Jia Chang, Clear Lake High School; Christine Randall, Upper Lake High School Team One.

Second place: Corey Cherrington, Lower Lake High School.

Third place: Sarah Barnes, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Economics

First place: Shao-Jia Chang, Clear Lake High School.

Second place: Joshua Buttke, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Josue Ramirez, Willits High School.

Super Quiz

First place: Christine Randall, Upper Lake High School Team One.

Second place: Ian Weber, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Tie – Rebecca Swaney, Upper Lake High School Team Two; Oscar Nieves, Upper Lake High School Team One.

Top three Varsity-level students

First place: Christine Randall, Upper Lake High School Team One.

Second place: David Stansberry, Willits High School.

Third place: Roy Hankins, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Top three Scholastic-level students

First place: Rebecca Swaney, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Second place: Sarah Barnes, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Third place: Corey Cherrington, Lower Lake High School.

Top three Honors-level students

First place: Shao-Jia Chang, Clear Lake High School.

Second place: Elizabeth Perkins, Lower Lake High School.

Third place: Jordan Austin, Upper Lake High School Team Two.

Students with second-highest point totals for their school

Clear Lake High School: Oliver Leighton.

Lower Lake High School: Corey Cherrington.

Middletown High School: Nika Gibbs.

Upper Lake High School: Sarah Barnes.

Williams High School: Juanita Hernandez.

Willits High School: Siarra Bergmann.

Students with top point totals for their school

(Each student from Lake and Mendocino counties received a $250 scholarship from the Lodge at Blue Lakes; the Williams student received a $250 scholarship from a separate fund.)

Clear Lake High School: Shao-Jia Chang.

Upper Lake High School: Rebecca Swaney.

Willits High School: David Stansberry.

Middletown High School: Francisco Sandoval.

Lower Lake High School: Elizabeth Perkins.

Williams High School: Elsa Mora.

Poetry contest (new this year; not counted toward competition scores)

First place: Naomi Walker, Willits High School.

Second place: Elsa Mora, Williams High School.

Third place: Corey Cherrington, Lower Lake High School.

Poster contest (new this year; not counted toward competition scores)

First place: Cheyenne Hoffman, Lower Lake High School.

Second place: Bianey Madrigal, Lower Lake High School.

Third place: Hector Landeros, Lower Lake High School.

THE TEAMS

Listed in alphabetical order.

Clear Lake High School

Principal: Steve Gentry

Coach: Jim Rogers

The team: Shao-Jia Chang, Alice Crockett, Alyssa Hauptman, Asia Jones, Rabacca Lambert, Oliver Leighton, Philip Leighton, Stephanie Rasmussen.

Lower Lake High School

Principal: Jeff Dixon

Coach: Nancy Harby

The team: Corey Cherrington, Sara Fred, Raj Gandhi, James Haddan, Spence Haddan, Cheyenne Hoffman, Hector Landeros, Bianey Madrigal, Shawn McAlister, Elijah Orlando, Elizabeth Perkins, Carina Ruedas, Sara Sanders and Teodora Toshich

Middletown High School

Principal: Bill Roderick

Coaches: Patti Jimenez, Jennifer Pyzer and Robin Cara

The team: Donald Albright, Destiny Foxworthy, Nika Gibbs, Cole Rockwell, Francisco Sandoval and Ashley Thompson

Upper Lake High School

Principal: Patrick Iaccino

Coaches: Ana Sabalone, Angel Hayenga

Team One: Ivan Lopez, Jesus Martinez, Justine Moran, Oscar Nieves, Christine Randall, Ian Seevers, Homan Su, Mark Umalin, Daniel VanMeter and Tyler Warren.

Team Two: Jordan Austin, Sarah Barnes, Joshua Buttke, Jaqueline Estrada, Roy Hankins, Alexander Mairs, Jose Ruiz, Rebecca Swaney, Ian Weber and Shayla Wyman.

Williams High School

Principal and coach: Dan Flanigan

The team: Aron Ashbury, Samantha Coombs, Sandra Cruz, Juanita Hernandez, Erik Knight, Erica Leos, Rocio Martinez, Elsa Mora, Anna Ramirez, Maria Vega and Lisa White.

Willits High School

Principal: Gordon Oslund

Coach: Jeff Bergmann

The team: Joanna Bennett, Siarra Bergmann, Jay Hansen, Cristobel Lopez, Miguel Medina, Josue Ramirez, Aaron Ramirez, Bonnie Smith, David Stansberry and Naomi Walker.

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