Willits High, Upper Lake High to compete in California Academic Decathlon

UPPER LAKE, Calif. – Lake County’s Academic Decathlon on Saturday once again challenged some of the brightest young minds in the county, with Willits High and Upper Lake High advancing to the state competition in March.

The public portion of the event, including the Super Quiz and awards ceremony, took place in the cafeteria at Upper Lake High School.

For several years, Willits High has traveled to Lake County to participate in the competition, as no other high schools from Mendocino County have Academic Decathlon teams.

This year, Willits’ team put on a winning performing, topping both Upper Lake and Clear Lake High School and racking up dozens of medals for its students.

Mary Colvig, now in her third year coaching Willits High’s Academic Decathlon team, said her team has strong students in each of the 10 disciplines, and that they were very focused on winning.

She said they’ve been very motivated and worked hard all year to be ready for Saturday’s competition.

They were definitely ready, and in some categories, such as economics and essay, all of the medals went to Willits High students.

Savanna Hofmaister was one of Willits’ most decorated competitors, and she repeated her title this year as the top scoring student from her school. Overall, she earned the highest number of points of any academic decathlete, 8,526 points.

Sarah Williams of Upper Lake High School, also a returning academic decathlete, was the highest point earner in her school overall and second highest for the scholastic category, which is a 3.0 to 3.74 grade point average, while Katelyn Rolfe was the high scorer for Clear Lake High School.

Moving to the state competition along with Willits is Upper Lake High School, which won the Lake County title for the fourth year running.

Coach Anna Sabalone brought to this year’s competition a young team, more than a third of which were freshmen.

Adding to the mix was a large portion of last year’s team members who had competed at the state level, and the freshmen members had the chance to work with, and learn from, the upper class members.

“Fingers crossed, this will be the beginning of a good cycle,” she said.

Usually, Sabalone gives the team a week or so to rest up before diving back into the preparation for competition.

But not this year, she said.

Nodding toward her friend Colvig and the Willits team, Sabalone said that, considering the tough level of competition they will encounter at state, it’s back to work immediately.

The California Academic Decathlon will take place March 21 to 24 in Sacramento.

For information on making a donation to help the Upper Lake team travel to the state competition, call Upper Lake High at 707-275-2338.

The full results of the competition are below.

Clear Lake High School
Superintendent Patrick Iaccino, Principal Jill Falconer, Coach Becky Lawler
Team members: Nicabec Casido, Anna DelBosco, Trinity Ingersoll, Robert Lasher, Jacob Lopez, Mackenzie Markham, Edward Medina, Stacey Partridge, Breana Pierce, Nathaniel Porter, Oscard Quilala, Neydi Rodriguez, Katelyn Rolfe, Rosa Ruiz, Cole Saiz, Felix Salinas, Allison Scott

Upper Lake High School
Superintendent Giovanni Annous, Principal Sandy Coatney, Coaches Anna Sabalone, Angel Hayenga and Christal Coatney
Team members: William Cromwell, Jeff Fannon, Jasmine Haro, Jenaya Horne, Jisel Horne, Joslyn Huntley, Deeya Kalan, Jessica Lee, Emily McKelvey, Kehlani McKelvey, Diana Mendoza-Razo, Katlyn Minnis, Robert Porterfield, Hugh Ramos, Isabel Sanchez, Annalise Smith, Seneca Snow, Maria Tinoco, Sarah Williams, Amantae Wyman

Willits High School
Superintendent Mark Westerburg, Principal Michael Colvig, Coach Mary Colvig
Team members: Amy Andrade, Jacob Arms,Tyler Bailey, Joscelyn Beebe, Mikayla Blake, Jaeva Cash, Spencer Copperfield, Brieana Evans, MaKenzie Hansen, Elizabeth Henning, Karen Hernandez, Savanna Hofmaister, Teophil Labus, McKenna McNelley, Mara Moratti, Ariel Reyes, Logan Simms, Micah Stamps, Lillian Turner, Emerald Water, Ian Watson, Grady Williams

TEAM PLACEMENT

Lake County

First place: Upper Lake High School, 36,628 points
Second place: Clear Lake High School, 33,356 points

Mendocino County

First place: Willits High School, 42,474 points

AWARDS

Super Quiz

First place: Willits High School, 63
Second place: Upper Lake High School, 46
Third place: Clear Lake High School, 37

SUBJECTS

Art

First place: Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School
Second place: Ian Watson, Willits High School
Third place: Kehlani McKelvey, Upper Lake High School

Economics

First place: Grady Williams, Willits High School
Second place: Jaeva Cash, Willits High School
Third place: (tie) Logan Simms, Elizabeth Henning and Brieana Evans, all of Willits High School

Essay

First place: Ian Watson, Willits High School
Second place: Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School
Third place: McKenna McNelley, Willits High School

Interview

First place: (tie) Nicabec Casido, Clear Lake High School; Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School
Second place: Mikayla Blake, Willits High School
Third place: Micah Stamps, Willits High School

Language and Literature

First place: Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School
Second place: Brieana Evans, Willits High School
Third place: Sarah Williams, Upper Lake High School

Mathematics

First place: (tie) Ian Watson, Willits High School
Second place: Jacob Mars, Willits High School
Third place: Stacey Partridge, Clear Lake High School

Music

First place: Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School
Second place: Ian Watson, Willits High School
Third place: (tie) Sarah Williams and Maria Tinoco, both of Upper Lake High School

Science

First place: Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School
Second place: Nicabec Casido, Clear Lake High School
Third place: Emerald Walters, Willits High School

Social Sciences

First place: Katelyn Rolfe, Clear Lake High School
Second place: Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School
Third place: Ian Watson, Willits High School

Speech

First place: (tie) Jeff Fannon, Upper Lake High School; Spencer Copperfield, Willits High School
Second place: Brieana Evans, Willits High School
Third place: Mikayla Blake, Willits High School

TOP FINISHERS FOR EACH ACADEMIC LEVEL

Honors category (3.75-4.00 grade point average)

First place: Savanna Hofmaister, Willits High School, 8,526 points
Second place: Ian Watson, Willits High School, 7,663 points
Third place: Brieana Evans, Willits High School, 7,475 points

Scholastic category (3.00-3.74 GPA)

First place: Logan Simms, Willits High School, 6,980 points
Second place: Sarah Williams, Upper Lake High School, 6,953 points
Third place: Micah Stamps, Willits High School, 6,503 points

Varsity category (2.99 GPA or below)

First place: Grady Williams, Willits High School, 5,855 points
Second place: Mikayla Blake, Willits High School, 5,689 points
Third place: Jeff Fannon, Upper Lake High School, 5,407 points

HIGHEST SCORING STUDENTS, PER SCHOOL

Clear Lake High School: Katelyn Rolfe
Upper Lake High School: Sarah Williams
Willits High School: Savanna Hofmaister

SECOND HIGHEST SCORING STUDENTS, PER SCHOOL

Clear Lake High School: Mackenzie Markham
Upper Lake High School: Maria Tinoco
Willits High School: Ian Watson

The Lodge at Blue Lakes provided $100 scholarships for each of the schools' top-scoring students, along with additional gift certificates to the lodge.

Correction: A previous version of the article said Sarah Williams of Upper Lake was the highest scorer in the varsity category. She actually was the second-highest scorer in the scholastic category.

Email Elizabeth Larson at elarson@lakeconews.com. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.