Stockdale makes a super showing

decath092:

Stockdale High’s winning team shares the spotlight at the Kern County Academic Decathlon awards ceremony.

decath093:

Stockdale High’s Henry Lydecker and Ryan McNaboe quickly raised their pencils in the air to let the judges know they had the answer during Super Quiz.

decath094:

Cesar Chavez High School had a great Academic Decathlon showing, finishing third out of the 23 teams that competed.

Just as Santonio Holmes was the Most Valuable Player in professional football’s Super Bowl a week earlier, a case can be made that Daniel Ray may deserve that title for his role in determining the outcome of the 29th annual Kern County Academic Decathlon held at Bakersfield High School on Feb. 7. Ray recorded four individual category wins and had the highest individual point total of all the competitors, leading Stockdale to the team title and the Claude W. Richardson Perpetual Trophy. Overall, Stockdale won nine of the 10 contested academic categories to win the Academic Decathlon over second place Bakersfield High. Cesar Chavez of Delano finished third.

Approximately 200 students from 23 high schools participated in this clash of Kern County’s brightest high school minds, subtitled by some as the “Academic Super Bowl.” Students have their knowledge, presentation and problem-solving skills tested in 10 academic arenas — Art, Economics, Essay, Interview, Language and Literature, Mathematics, Music, Science, Speech and Super Quiz (written and oral) — tied to this year’s national theme, “Latin America.”

On Feb. 11, Bakersfield High learned it had been extended an invitation to participate in the state finals by the California Academic Decathlon. Bakersfield High was among the teams with the top 20 highest scores that did not win their county Academic Decathlon title. As such, they received an at-large berth to the state finals and along with Stockdale High will give Kern County two representatives at the California Academic Decathlon on March 13-16 in Sacramento. The state winner advances to the national finals April 22-25 in Memphis, TN.

“Last year it was fantastic, especially being the first school in Kern County history to make the top 10 at state,” said Stockdale High student team captain Mike Brown. “We are looking at how much better we have scored on the tests this year, and I think this team could be even better than the one we sent last year.”

Other schools placing in the overall top 10 were: Arvin High — fourth, Wasco High — fifth, Foothill High — sixth, Bakersfield Christian High — seventh, Frontier High — eighth, Boron High — ninth and Highland High — tenth.

Each school's team consisted of a maximum of nine students: three A (honor), three B (scholastic) and three C (varsity) entrants. They competed against other students in the same divisions. The team compiling the most points captured first place. Individual medals were also awarded to first, second and third place finishers in each category and division.

An event crowd-pleaser was the oral rally portion of the Super Quiz, the last event of the day. Super Quiz consists of a written test and a timed oral relay, quiz show kind of event, where teammates, family and friends cheer every time the numbers are flipped over to reveal who is leading. After 90 minutes of tense competition testing each student’s knowledge on the theme, “An Introduction to Evolutionary Biology,” Stockdale earned the Milo E. Hall Super Quiz Trophy, a non-scoring award that goes to the winner.

“Unlike a sporting event, we did not win because of a call on the field,” said Stockdale team member Grant Brady. “We won because we committed to studying until 8 p.m. each night last week. It was worth the time, the wings, the pizza and the Frisbee cool down sessions.”

In overall Super Quiz, where the team score counts, Stockdale placed first, Arvin High second and Cesar Chavez High third.

OVERALL STUDENT WINNERS
(Student-School-Division)
1st Daniel Ray, Stockdale, Honors; Michael Brown, Stockdale, Scholastic; Henry Lydecker, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Joe Feghali, Stockdale, Honors; Wesley Elrich, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Grant Brady, Stockdale, Varsity
3rd Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors; Rene Velazquez, Cesar Chavez High, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale, Varsity

INDIVIDUAL STUDENT CATEGORY WINNERS:

Language and Literature
1st Daniel Ray, Stockdale, Honors; Jeffrey Cooke, Frontier, Scholastic; Henry Lydecker, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors,; Michael Brown, Stockdale and Phillip Viramontes, Arvin, Scholastic; Elena Sanchez, Bakersfield, Varsity
3rd Evelyn Zuniga, Arvin and Alejandro Martinez, Wasco, Honors; Armando Fuentes, Stockdale and Patricia Roman, Arvin, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale and Ramona Martinez, Foothill, Varsity

Music
1st Daniel Ray, Stockdale, Honors; Rene Velazquez, Cesar Chavez High, Scholastic; Henry Lydecker, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Joe Feghali, Stockdale, Honors; Michael Brown, Stockdale, Scholastic; Gustavo Ambrocio, Cesar Chavez High, Varsity
3rd Enoch Chang, Bakersfield, Honors, Yesenia Avelar, Cesar Chavez High, Jacob White, Stockdale and Anders Eagleson, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale and Mark Trujillo, Arvin, Varsity

Science
1st Alejandro Martinez, Wasco, Honors; Michael Brown, Stockdale, Scholastic; Henry Lydecker, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Joe Feghali, Stockdale, Honors; Luis Hernandez, Arvin, Scholastic; Grant Brady, Stockdale, Varsity
3rd Blaine Mustoe, Arvin and Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors; Rene Velazquez, Cesar Chavez High and Wesley Elrich, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale, Varsity

Art
1st Daniel Ray, Stockdale, Honors; Michael Brown, Stockdale, Scholastic; Francisco Gavino, Cesar Chavez High, Henry Lydecker, Stockdale and Elena Sanchez, Bakersfield, Varsity
2nd Joe Feghali, Stockdale, Honors; Wesley Elrich, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Gustavo Ambrocio, Cesar Chavez High, Pricila Hernandez, Arvin and Christine Saldivar, Wasco, Varsity
3rd Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors; Rene Velazquez, Cesar Chavez High, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale and Audrey Eagleson, Bakersfield, Varsity

Mathematics
1st Chris Underhill, Bakersfield Christian, Honors; Rene Velazquez, Cesar Chavez High, Scholastic; Grant Brady, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors; Anders Eagleson, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Robert Patrick, Frontier, Varsity
3rd Daniel Ray, Stockdale and Enoch Chang, Bakersfield, Honors; Cameron Weinberg, Liberty, Scholastic; Gustavo Ambrocio, Cesar Chavez High and Nicole Johnson, Bakersfield, Varsity

Economics
1st Daniel Ray, Stockdale, Honors; Wesley Elrich, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Henry Lydecker, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors; Jeffrey Cooke, Frontier, Scholastic; Elena Sanchez, Bakersfield, Varsity
3rd Joe Feghali, Stockdale and Chris Underhill, Bakersfield Christian, Honors; Jacob White, Stockdale, Scholastic; Grant Brady, Stockdale, Varsity

Essay
1st Max Beal, Highland, Honors; Veronica Shepp, Bakersfield Christian, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Joe Feghali, Stockdale, Honors; Kaleigh Tinkle, Centennial, Scholastic; Ramona Martinez, Foothill, Varsity
3rd Jenny Kim, Garces Memorial, Honors; Chase Reed, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Kevin Quiroz, Garces Memorial, Varsity

Speech
1st Evelyn Zuniga, Arvin, Honors; Andrea Anderson, Wasco, Scholastic; Paulina Gamez, Arvin, Varsity
2nd Reem Suleiman, Stockdale, Honors; Miguel Ceja, Cesar Chavez High, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale, Varsity
3rd Joe Feghali, Stockdale, Honors; Armando Fuentes, Stockdale, Scholastic; Gustavo Ambrocio, Cesar Chavez High, Varsity

Interview
1st Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors; Michael Brown, Stockdale and Chelsea Farris, Centennial, Scholastic; Santiago Ontiveros, Cesar Chavez High, Varsity
2nd Monique Maher, Foothill, Honors; Jacob White, Stockdale, Scholastic; Grant Brady, Stockdale, Varsity
3rd Evelyn Zuniga, Arvin, Honors; Mark Heisler, Bakersfield Christian, Scholastic; Shawn Collins, Highland, Varsity

Super Quiz
1st Alejandro Martinez, Wasco and Grant Paulson, Bakersfield, Honors; Jacob White, Stockdale, Michael Brown, Stockdale and Wesley Elrich, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Henry Lydecker, Stockdale and Grant Brady, Stockdale, Varsity
2nd Evelyn Zuniga, Arvin, Steven Barker, Cesar Chavez High and Shannon Cooper, Bakersfield, Honors; Philip Viramontes, Arvin, Rene Velazquez, Cesar Chavez High, Kaleigh Tinkle, Centennial and Chase Reed, Bakersfield, Scholastic; Ryan McNaboe, Stockdale, Varsity
3rd Joe Feghali, Stockdale, Maribel Moreno, Shafter and Daniel Ray, Stockdale, Honors;  Jeffrey Cooke, Frontier, Scholastic; Eduardo Figueroa, Wasco, Varsity

Academic Decathlon is co-sponsored by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Kern High School District and Kern County Academic Decathlon Association.


Print This Page   Email This Page