LAKEPORT – After a one-year interruption in its multi-year winning streak, Upper Lake High School's Academic Decathlon Team claimed victory at Saturday's Lake County Academic Decathlon.

The competition took place at Clear Lake High School's Marge Alakszay Center in Lakeport.

Competitors included Middletown High, Clear Lake High, Upper Lake High and Lower Lake High.

Academic Decathletes competed in several categories including English and literature, fine arts, mathematics, physical and biological sciences, and social science.

Upper Lake's team won first place, with Lower Lake High School – last year's winner – placing second, reported Robert Riggs, who attended the Saturday event.

Lake County Superintendent of Schools Dave Geck presided over the Saturday competition, Riggs reported.

The pivotal part of every Academic Decathlon competition is the Super Quiz. This year the Super Quiz focused on the Civil War, with Lake County Board of Education Vice President Dr. Mark Cooper reading the questions.

Lower Lake High won the Super Quiz, but Upper Lake led by enough of a margin to keep its hold on the gold.

In a snapshot of competition winners, Kate Lyons of Lower Lake won the gold medal in the Honors division (3.75 grade point average and above), Robin Grayhorse of Upper Lake won the gold medal in the Scholastic division (3.0 to 3.74 GPA) and Robert Pyle of Upper Lake won the gold medal in the Varsity division (2.99 GPA and below).

Upper Lake's win puts it on course to return to the state Academic Decathlon competition, scheduled for March 7 through 10 in Sacramento. The March competition will be held at three different venues: California State University, Sacramento; the Hyatt Regency; and Sacramento Memorial Auditorium.

Upper Lake High School had been Lake County's Academic Decathlon juggernaut for eight straight years until the 2007 win by Lower Lake High.

In 2004 Upper Lake High won the state Academic Decathlon Division 3 championship.

Team rosters for Saturday included:

Upper Lake High School ( Coach, Tina Moore)

• Honor – Daniella Cazares, Kyle Coleman and Marisa Garcia;

• Scholastic – Robin Grayhorse, Hannah Johnson and Jonathan Philpott;

• Varsity – Robert Pyle, Corey Smith and Maria Mendoza;

• Alternates – Stephanie Tregea, Belarmino Garcia, Laura Benavides, Lisa Benavides, Chae Carter, Luis Cazares and Thonyoon Chao.

   

Lower Lake High School (Coach, Nancy Harby)

• Honor – Kate Lyons, Daniel Jackson and Emmalena Illia;

• Scholastic – Kayla Myrick, Joe Riggs and Joshua Salazar;

• Varsity – Chris Ingersoll, Jacob Sanders and Gerald Skinner;

• Alternates – Ryan Wilson, Alexandra Huff, Sean Grant and Jeremy Montano.

Clear Lake High School (Coach, Jim Rogers)

• Honor – Isabel Gregorio, Diego Bernardino and Matt Stegman;

• Scholastic – Kathryn Frazell, Tiffany Frazell and Enrique Villanueva;

• Varsity – Zane Butler, Robert Brown and Kyana Emmot;

• Alternates – Garrett Schofield, Ally Hauptman and Kassandranne Richards.

Middletown High School (Coaches, Patty Jimenez and Jennifer Pyzer)

• Honor – Elise Zolczynski, Joseph Rebolledo and Cynthia Pimentel;

• Scholastic – Johnathan Bateman and William Oertel;

• Varsity – Jeremy Hoskins, Aaron Turner and Daniel Renninger III.

A full report, with a complete list of winning students and teams, will follow early next week when the results are officially tallied by the Lake County Office of Education.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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