SAN ANTONIO - Simi Valley High School, a rookie entry at the U.S. Academic Decathlon, placed second Sunday in the large-school division behind a suburban Houston school.
Modeled on the athletic decathlon, teams from 38 states converged on Trinity University and San Antonio College on Thursday to begin a grueling, 10-category contest.
As the name suggests, students participated in 10 categories: art, economics, essay, interview, language and literature, mathematics, science, social science, speech, and Super Quiz.
Katy Taylor High School came in first, for its second national title in four years. Catholic Memorial High School, of Waukesha, Wis., repeated last year's third-place finish in the large-school division. Whitney Young Magnet High School, representing Illinois, came in fourth.
In the medium-school division, Weymouth High School in Massachusetts won top honors, followed by Eisenhower Senior High from Oklahoma, Cedar Shoals High School from Georgia and Harry A. Burke High School from Nebraska.
Willoughby South High School, representing Ohio, won the small-school division, followed by Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan from New Jersey, Tri-West Hendricks High School from Indiana and Preston High School from Idaho.
Anchorage, Alaska, will host next year's finals.
