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KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – For the second year in a row Clear Lake High School's Academic Decathlon team took top honors in the county's 34th annual competition, and will now head to the state championship next month.
The team topped rivals Upper Lake, which took second, and Kelseyville, which took third, in the event, which culminated on Saturday afternoon in the Super Quiz, held at Kelseyville High School.
This year's theme is “New Alternatives in Energy: Ingenuity and Innovation.”
Academic decathletes compete in 10 disciplines – arts, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, mathematics, music, science, social science and speech – in addition to the Super Quiz. Locally, poetry and poster production contests have been added.
The interview and speech portions of the competition took place last weekend.
Only three teams competed this year, as longtime competitor Lower Lake High did not send a team to the take part.
Each team is comprised of three members each from three academic levels: Honors, grade point average of 3.75 to 4.00; Scholastic, 3.00 to 3.74 GPA; and Varsity, GPA of 2.99 or below.
For the Academic Decathlon's 10 core disciplines – not counting the poster and poetry contests – Chris Vincent of Clear Lake High School won the most medals, with a total of 11. Those included nine individual medals – seven gold, one silver and one bronze – and two gold medals for the first-place overall win and for the top spot in the Super Quiz.
During the Saturday afternoon awards ceremony, Vincent – whose wins included the speech category – gave his speech for the estimated 100 people in attendance.
Vincent's topic was plastic, its ubiquitousness, the importance of recycling it and the environmental challenges it poses.
Clear Lake High School Coach Jim Rogers credits his team's success to ample preparation in the form of a humanities class dedicated to the competition.
He said he loves the art and music portions of the competition, and last year he began recruiting students who also liked those subjects and who he felt would strengthen the team.
This will be Rogers' last year coaching, as he's planning to retire. He says he has someone in mind to succeed him as coach, but that hasn't been finalized yet.
“I just hope the class continues,” he said.
With the local competition over, “Now, we have to study for state,” said Rogers.
The state championship will be held March 20 and 21 in Sacramento, with the winning teams there advancing on to the national finals, which take place in April in Garden Grove.
Team rosters and full competition results are listed below.
TEAM ROSTERS
Clear Lake High School
Coach: Jim Rogers
Dakota Durbin, Cord Falkenberg, Nate Falkenberg, Julie Ann Mather, Narumi Jo Mitchell, Linda Ralosky, Savannah Rasmussen, Emily Seeley, Kennedi Syphax, Melissa Thibeau, Noelani Urquiza, Chris Vincent
Kelseyville High School
Coaches: Erick Larsen and Heather Koschik
Kristen Amendola, Montana Blocker, Madison Boyd, Ricardo Covarrubia, Noah Finch, Joseph Fletcher, Elizabeth Fricker, Garrett Grossner, Cassidy Holmes, Roberto Lozano, Mary McCallister, Cassidy McCoy, Anna Pak, Tiara Richards, Merin Rixen, Sarah Sheridan, Jared Smith, Marlin Smith, Justin Stanley, Nichole Stevens, Katie Terou, Collin Walker, Kaylie Williams, Andrew Vonwal
Upper Lake High School
Coaches: Anna Sabalone and Angel Hayenga
David Becerra-Lopez, Daniela Estrada, Katie Foster, Heather Hankins, Miranda Huntley, Anisha Kalan, Wroehnyn Milks, Kaylee O'Bryant, Travis Rife, Juan Ruiz, Crystal Smith, Edgar Valencia, Arthur Wilkie
AWARDS
Team placement
First place: Clear Lake High School
Second place: Upper Lake High School
Third place: Kelseyville High School
Super Quiz
First place: Clear Lake High School
Second place: Upper Lake High School
Third place: Kelseyville High School
Language and literature
First place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Second place: Heather Hankins, ULHS
Third place (four-way tie): Arthur Wilkie, ULHS; Katie Foster, ULHS; Travis Rife, ULHS; Nate Falkenberg, CLHS
Art
First place: Noelani Urquiza, CLHS
Second place: Melissa Thibeaux, CLHS
Third place (two-way tie): Nate Falkenberg, CLHS; Julie Ann Mather, CLHS
Social science
First place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Second place: Julie Ann Mather, CLHS
Third place: Arthur Wilkie, ULHS
Math
First place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Second place (two-way tie): Nate Falkenberg, CLHS; Roberto Lozano, KHS
Third place: Cord Falkenberg, CLHS
Music
First place: Melissa Thibeaux, CLHS
Second place (two-way tie): Noelani Urquiza, CLHS; Arthur Wilkie, ULHS
Third place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Economics
First place: Cord Falkenberg, CLHS
Second place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Third place: Melissa Thibeaux, CLHS
Science
First place (three-way tie): Nate Falkenberg, CLHS; Chris Vincent, CLHS; Cord Falkenberg, CLHS
Second place: Travis Rife, ULHS
Third place: Katie Foster, ULHS
Essay
First place: Noelani Urquiza, CLHS
Second place: Cassidy Holmes, KHS
Third place: Emily Seeley, CLHS
Interview
First place: Heather Hankins, ULHS
Second place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Third place: Jared Smith, KHS
Speech
First place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Second place: Julie Ann Mather, CLHS; Emily Seeley, CLHS
Third place: Mary McCallister, KHS
TOP FINISHERS FOR EACH ACADEMIC LEVEL
Honors category (3.75-4.00 grade point average)
First place: Chris Vincent, CLHS
Second place: Nate Falkenberg, CLHS
Third place: Julie Ann Mather, CLHS
Scholastic category (3.00-3.74 GPA)
First place: Cord Falkenberg, CLHS
Second place: Arthur Wilkie, ULHS
Third place: Melissa Thibeau, CLHS
Varsity category (2.99 GPA or below)
First place: Travis Rife, ULHS
Second place: Noah Finch, KHS
Third place: Edgar Valencia, ULHS
SECOND HIGHEST SCORING STUDENTS, PER SCHOOL
Clear Lake High: Cord Falkenberg
Kelseyville High: Cassidy Holmes
Upper Lake High School: Travis Rife
HIGHEST SCORING STUDENTS, PER SCHOOL
Clear Lake High: Chris Vincent
Kelseyville High: Noah Finch
Upper Lake High School: Arthur Wilkie
Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.