Redlands High School is back on top in the San Bernardino County Academic Decathlon competition, winning its first title since 2011, after results were announced at the banquet for the 37th annual event.
With 45,395 points, Redlands (White) slipped past defending champion Rancho Cucamonga (Purple), which had 44,463.1 points. It was the second-closest finish in the competition in the past 12 years. For Redlands, which is coached by Donna St. George, this was the school’s record 14th Academic Decathlon crown, but first since the 2010-11 school year when it defeated Chaffey High School.
By winning the county title, Redlands advances to the state championships for the sixth consecutive year. The state championships will be held March 27-28 in Sacramento.
In this year’s county competition, the rest of the top five finishing schools behind Redlands and Rancho Cucamonga included Etiwanda (42,173.2 points), Chaffey (41,860.1 points) and Rialto (38,647.7 points). Joining Redlands in qualifying for the state competition will be Rancho Cucamonga, Etiwanda and Chaffey.
In this year’s county competition, there were 43 teams representing 25 high schools that participated. Teams, as well as about 330 individuals that participated in the competition, were recognized with certificates, trophies and gold, silver or bronze medals at the awards ceremony tonight that was held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Ontario.
The academic competition took place on two consecutive Saturdays on Jan. 25 and Feb. 1 at Los Osos High School in Rancho Cucamonga. The scholastic contest pitted students against one another in 10 subject areas.
Teams were composed of nine students, three each from grade point average categories of “A” (Honors), “B” (Scholastic) and “C” (Varsity). There were written tests in the areas of math, economics, science, language/literature, music, art and social science. Students also wrote an essay, faced a panel of interviewers and gave impromptu and prepared speeches. In the last event of the competition, Chaffey (Black) won the Super Quiz, a team college-bowl contest, ahead of Redlands (White) and Rancho Cucamonga (Purple).