Margin of Error

LOS ANGELES — Simi Valley High School inched past defending national champion Moorpark on Sunday to win the California Academic Decathlon and a shot at the national championship in San Antonio next month.

With the victory, Simi Valley became the second Ventura County school in a row to win the state championship.

After officials announced Simi Valley’s victory during a Sunday awards ceremony at the Los Angeles International Airport Marriott Hotel, a roar erupted from parents, school officials and other supporters.

Simi Valley team members, red-faced and leaping into the air, stormed the stage to claim medals and a 4-foot-high trophy, the fruit of countless hours of study.

“Oh man, this is great!” shouted Simi Valley junior Kevin White. “For a second there, it didn’t look like it was going to happen.”

Four hundred students from nearly 50 schools competed in the weekend event.

During the grueling two-day bout, students delivered speeches, gave interviews, wrote essays and took tests in music, math, literature, economics, art and

social science. They also answered questions about the environment during a fast-paced, college-bowl-style event called the Super Quiz.

Simi Valley knocked out some tough competition during the weekend.

Bishop Alemany High School of Mission Hills, which won the oral portion of the Super Quiz on Saturday, placed third. El Camino Real High School of Woodland Hills and Los Angeles High School placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

The difference between first and second place came down to one test question. Simi Valley scored 50,032 points out of a possible 60,000. Moorpark scored 50,011.

“It’s never been that close in the history of the Academic Decathlon,” said Moorpark co-coach Michelle Bergman, as she consoled her team in the hotel lobby.

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Moorpark students gasped as they opened packets showing the narrow point spread. One student cried in the corner as a woman consoled him.

“It hurts when you’re so close to something and you can’t quite reach it,” said Moorpark junior Zachary Ramirez, 17.

Simi Valley team members, meanwhile, were equally shocked that they had slipped past the national champion by such a narrow margin.

“Twenty-one freakin’ points,” marveled senior Steve Mihalovits, 17.

Ken Hibbitts, who coaches the Simi Valley team with his wife, Sally, said he would have liked to have won by a wider margin, but was ecstatic at the opportunity to compete for the national championship April 13-16.

“It’s going to be tough,” Hibbitts said. “We’re going in as underdogs.”

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Because other states, such as Texas, held their state championship two weeks ago, they have a jump on preparing for the San Antonio competition, Hibbitts said.

He said his students will hold an academic boot camp until the national contest--the United States Academic Decathlon--studying seven hours a day, seven days a week.

“I guess this puts off the ritual burning of the study materials for another month,” team member White said.

Simi Valley team members have spent countless hours with their noses buried in books.

The team moved into the Marriott to study for the weekend state competition, sequestering itself from the distractions of school and teenage life.

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Simi Valley will have the help of Moorpark High in preparing for the national championship.

Bergman and her co-coach, Anna Karchem, both math teachers, said they were excited to see a Ventura County team representing the state at the national level and promised to help the team in its math studies.

Going into next month’s national competition, Simi Valley team members are confident.

The team beat many of the nation’s top teams during the state competition, they said.

They say that leaves only two real contenders: James E. Taylor High School of Katy, Texas, and Catholic Memorial High School of Madison, Wis.

“They’re going down!” shouted 17-year old senior Steve Mihalovits, with all the adrenaline of a football linebacker who just sealed a Super Bowl victory. “We’re coming to you Texas!”

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Moorpark’s coaches, meanwhile, weren’t giving up hope that their team might compete in San Antonio.

Not an hour after the award’s ceremony, the coaches were talking about lobbying officials to allow the Moorpark team to also compete in nationals because it had placed second by a such small margin.

A team from another state would have to pull out in order for Moorpark to be able to go, Karchem said, but even that wouldn’t guarantee the opportunity.

Absent such a windfall, Moorpark team’s members say they are left with the prospect of returning to a normal life. Upcoming contests can no longer serve as an excuse for not doing calculus homework.

But Simi Valley team members will have to wait for such normalcy.

“We owe [the victory] to dedication, hard work and all those other cliches,” White said.