Upper Lake High wins Academic Decathlon; Kelseyville High debuts in second place

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Kelseyville High Team Two included Cory Johnson, Rebecca Brookes, Ashley Taylor, Onnivin Pelzel, Nils Mostin, Juan Huerta, Billie Jeffers, David Robinson and Avery Gibson.

Upper Lake must now put in a last furious push of studying in order to be ready to represent Lake County at the California Academic Decathlon, which takes place March 15-18 in Sacramento.

Competing teams this year included Willits, which as the only Mendocino County school will automatically advance to the state finals; Lower Lake; Clear Lake High School; and Middletown. Full scores and standings are expected from the Lake County Office of Education later this week.

This year’s topic was “The Age of Empire.”

During the super quiz, quiz master Gary Olson led students through 45 challenging questions, with three rounds each for varsity, scholastic and honors levels students. Parents and community members could test their own knowledge by following along on a score sheet.

Students were asked about issues including colonization and imperialism, the impact of disease on North America’s indigenous populations, the outcomes of the Boer War and factors affecting how European colonization developed in Africa. They had approximately seven seconds to write down their answers.

By the time the Super Quiz was over, Clear Lake High led with 19, followed by Willits, 17; Kelseyville Team Two, 15; Middletown and Lower Lake tied with 14; Upper Lake Team Two, 13; and Kelseyville Team One and Upper Lake Team One tied with 11.

After a half-hour break to tally the scores, the judges returned to announce the winners of individual and team medals, and named Upper Lake's first team and Kelseyville's second team as the top finishers.

As the teams gathered to celebrate afterward, one of Upper Lake’s standouts, Christine Randall, said the competition this year was really stressful, and there were many new people on the team as well.

That’s because this year, for the first time, Upper Lake Head Coach Anna Sabalone recruited freshmen for the team. Last year she experimented by allowing Ian Seevers on the team, and Seevers did well enough that she decided to bring on other younger students.

Senior Jordan Austin, who like Randall was bedecked with numerous medals after the awards Saturday night, called the competition “backbreaking.”

Asked if he had concerns about all of the new team members being able to work together with the veteran team members, Austin said Sabalone had no trouble getting everyone to study when they needed to do so.

Alongside Sabalone this year was Angel Hayenga, her assistant coach, who was at her first competition.

Though she had coached last year, Hayenga had been battling pneumonia and couldn’t watch her team compete in February 2011.

“It was so much fun,” she said of Saturday’s competition, which she called “amazing.”

Sabalone said it will be all studying and no break for her team between now and next month’s state competition.

The list of winning students and the teams follows.

ESSAY

SPEECH

INTERVIEW

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

ART

ECONOMICS

SCIENCE

MATH

MUSIC

SUPER QUIZ

DIVISIONS

VARSITY

SCHOLASTIC

HONOR

TEAM HIGH SCORERS

SECOND PLACE

FIRST PLACE

THE TEAMS

CLEAR LAKE HIGH SCHOOL

Superintendent Erin Smith-Hagberg

Principal Steve Gentry

Coach Jim Rogers

Team members: Shao-Jia Chang, Allison Hanson, Kelsie Lawson, Asia Jones, Alex Bielby, Jacob Blue, Isaura Espinoza, Amanda Bradley, Philip Leighton, Joni Hansen, Abby LaBar, Savannah Rasmussen.

LOWER LAKE HIGH SCHOOL

Superintendent Dr. Bill MacDougall

Principal Jeff Dixon

Coach Nancy Harby

Team members: Bianey Madrigal, Michelle Page, Hector Landeros, Cinthya Madrigal, Victoria Stahlman, Enrique Yarce, Tashawna Titus, Katelynn Meade-Malley, Robin Chen, Cheyenne Hoffman, James Haddan, Jessica Jones, Analy Rincon, Samantha Iovino, Zabdy Neria, Elijah Orlando.

KELSEYVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

Superintendent David McQueen

Principal Matt Cockerton

Coaches Erick Larsen and Heather Koschik

Team One: Amanda Spitzer, Sydney Odom, Blair Brookes, Daniel Lucas, Max Whitaker, Matteo Merodio, Justin Lombardo, Brittani Sheckells.

Team Two: Cory Johnson, Rebecca Brookes, Ashley Taylor, Onnivin Pelzel, Nils Mostin, Juan Huerta, Billie Jeffers, David Robinson, Avery Gibson.

UPPER LAKE HIGH SCHOOL

Superintendent/Principal Patrick Iaccino

Coaches Anna Sabalone and Angel Hayenga

Team One: Jaqueline Estrada, Jordan Austin, Shayla Wyman, Byron Garcia, Christine Randall, Carlos Valencia, Oscar Nieves, Farhad Hussain, Justine Moran, Jamie Maddock and Krista Coleman.

Team Two: Jordin Simons, Ian Seevers, Lyla Seevers, Arthur Wilkie, Savanah Fecht, Savannah Koppenhaver, Shahid Hussain, Juan Ruiz-Olguin, David Lopez, Gabriel Ramos.

WILLITS HIGH SCHOOL

Superintendent Debra Kubin

Principal Gordon Oslund

Coach Jeff Bergmann

Team members: Aaron Ramirez, Siarra Bergmann, Jacob Joens-Poulton, Mica Rudich, Bonnie Smith, Jay Hansen, Asher Israel, Cady Patterson, Elio Jeremias-Sgouros, Tiawna Corriveau, Cristobal Lopez, Naomi Ramirez, Levi Phillips.

MIDDLETOWN HIGH SCHOOL

Superintendent Dr. Korby Olson

Principal Bill Roderick

Coaches Patti Jiminez, Jennifer Pyzer and Robin Cara

Team members: Monique Gibbs, Rebecca Pachie, Taryn Barker, Mailea Pane, Ashley Thompson, Jessie Flynn, Alisa Burris and Samuel Peters.

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