Lemoore Middle College High School, housed on the West Hills College Lemoore campus, and coached by Allen Tong, won the decathlon with 39,512.4 points. The Lemoore Middle College whiz kids will face their next competition at the California State Championships scheduled for Santa Clara on March 24-26.
The team will go on to face state competition. Lemoore High School finished in second place. It was a year ago that the Lemoore squad competed at the Academic Decathlon Nationals, finishing in the top three.
This year’s theme was “The American Revolution.”
Teams from Corcoran High School, Hanford High School, Hanford West High School, Lemoore High School, Lemoore Middle College High School, and Sierra Pacific High School (a total of 44 students) competed in a rigorous set of academic examinations demonstrating their versatility in a variety of academic categories. Each team is comprised of “A”, “B” and “C” students.
Team members participated in ten grueling events in the Academic Decathlon, including Art, Economics, Mathematics, Music, Language & Literature, Social Science, and Science. In addition, the contestants performed prepared and impromptu speeches, wrote essays on a given topic, and participated in interview competitions. There was also a live Super Quiz competition held between the 6 schools.
Kings County students, coaches, and school representatives were eager to learn which team earned the highest overall point total.
2nd Place: Lemoore High School with 30,685 points
3rd Place: Hanford West High School with 25,888.9 points
4th Place: Sierra Pacific High School with 22,266.3 points
5th Place: Corcoran High School with 19,863.2 points
6th Place: Hanford High School with 12,577 points
Lemoore Middle College High School advances to the State Academic Decathlon competition in Sacramento in March.
Lemoore Middle College High School won the Super Quiz with 4,340 points. Second place went to Corcoran High School with 3,960 points. Third place was taken by Lemoore High School with 3,360 points.
At the event awards ceremony, individual medals and scholarships were awarded to students from each participating high school. $4,550 in scholarships were awarded to top placing Kings County students.
Top Decathlete – Luna Wheaton, Lemoore Middle College High School, $500 scholarship
Top Varsity Student - Richard Harmiel, Lemoore Middle College High School, $250 scholarship
Top Scholastic Student - Christian Pimentel, Lemoore Middle College High School, $250 scholarship
Top Honors Student – Luna Wheaton, Lemoore Middle College High School, $250 scholarship
Top Student Corcoran HS- Evalina Castillo, $200
Top Student Hanford HS- Sarah Tamayo, $200
Top Student Hanford West HS- Payge Perret, $200
Top Student Lemoore HS- Nathan Contreras, $200
Top Student Lemoore Middle College HS- Luna Wheaton, $200
Top Student Sierra Pacific HS- Loc Tran, $200
Other scholarship winners included:
Language & Literature: Richard Harmiel, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Music: Luna Wheaton, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Science: Luna Wheaton, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Science: Nathan Contreras, Lemoore High School, $100
Art: Richard Harmiel, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Mathematics: YuQi Yang, Sierra Pacific High School, $100
Mathematics: Nathan Contreras, Lemoore High School, $100
Economics: Richard Harmiel, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Social Science: Nazareth Franco, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Essay: Andra Rozier, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Essay: Jessica-Ann Villa, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Speech: Luna Wheaton, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Interview: Nazareth Franco, Lemoore Middle College High School, $100
Interview: Mike Vega, Lemoore High School, $100
Interview: Gabriel Edwards, Lemoore High School, $100
The California Academic Decathlon is a not-for-profit organization supported through personal, corporate, and foundation contributions. Any contributions to help our winning Academic Decathlon Team to travel to the state finals would be greatly appreciated. Donations can be sent directly to Allen Tong at Lemoore Middle College High School.
This year’s sponsors included Boston House of Pizza, The Bill Gundacker Family, EECU, FAST Credit Union, Gary V. Burrows, Inc., Hanford Breakfast Lions Club, Haynes & Sons Well Drilling, LLC, Kings County Office of Education, Kings Federal Credit Union, Leprino Foods, and Warmerdam Packing, LLC.
