DOWNEY, CA - Mark Keppel High School in the Alhambra Unified School District is the champion of the 41st Annual Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon. Under coach Tin Tran, Mark Keppel outperformed 36 other high schools to score the top prize for the fourth consecutive year.  

“It takes a tremendous amount of preparation, training and teamwork to excel in the Academic Decathlon. Congratulations to all the schools and students who participated. I’m so proud of all our decathletes for their hard work and sacrifice, and the coaches for supporting and mentoring our students,” said Dr. Debra Duardo, Los Angeles County Superintendent of Schools.  

More than 450 students in 59 teams from across the county participated in the competition, which started on January 28th, and ended on February 4th. The Los Angeles County Office of Education held a banquet today to recognize and honor all decathletes for their success.  

The top placement in the competition are as follows:  

1. Mark Keppel High School, Alhambra USD - 43,775 points 

Coach: Tin Tran

Students: Karen Shi, senior; Pammy Lin, sophomore; Yuliao Fan, freshman; Ryan Lin, senior; Sandra Liang, sophomore; Ryan Chan, junior; Zechuan Zhou, senior; Jack Zhao senior; and Janet You, sophomore.

2. West High School, Torrance USD - 39,801 points 

Coach: Erika Hettinger

Students: Keene Lei, freshman; Alison Lin, senior; Joshua (HongDao) Zhang, junior; Amber Huang, senior; Yuhan Jia, junior; Qinghan Jia, sophomore; Kyle (Minwoo) Chung, sophomore; and Ariel Kim, senior.

3. Alhambra High School – 38,884 points 

Coach: Jose Sanchez

Students: Alex Wu, sophomore; Kevin San, sophomore; Kenneth San, sophomore; Tyr Lau, junior; Westley Song, sophomore; Lyla Medina, junior; and Dylan Nattboy, senior.

4. Redondo Union High School – 38,092 points

Coach: Aimiee Gauvreau

Students: Theodore Danial, senior; Camilla Brennan, junior; Tal Levy, junior; Laxmi Upadhyaya, senior; Chiana Fujiwara, senior; Ava Ganny, junior; Logan Baker, junior; Madison Wilmes, senior; and Karen Malaty, senior.

5. PV Peninsula High School – 37,773 points

Coach: Anne-Marie Voegtlin

Students: Leia Spagnola, junior; Yuxiang Zhang, senior; Emily Zhu, junior; Emily Kallah, senior; Aarna Veera, sophomore; Brielle Young, senior; Artin Abedemanafi, sophomore; and Harry Zhao, senior.

A total of ten teams from Los Angeles County are advancing to the California Academic Decathlon, which takes place on March 25th in Santa Clara. The five additional teams qualified to compete in the California Academic Decathlon are:

6. North High School, Torrance USD – 37,079 points 

7. El Rancho High School – 35,847 points 

8. Beverly Hills High School – 35,109 points 

9. South High School, Torrance USD – 34,259 points 

10. South El Monte High School – 33,694 points 

Additionally, three decathletes received trophies for scoring highest averages across all three divisions and all ten events of the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon.

1. Theodore Danial, Redondo Union High School - 8,765 points

2. Kenneth San, Alhambra High School - 8,668 points

3. Kevin San, Alhambra High School - 8,587 points 

Coach Kenneth Ma from San Gabriel High School received the Roberta Kordich Coach Award. The award is presented annually to the coach who best exemplifies going beyond instructing the fundamentals of the competition in motivating students to a higher level of learning and excellence.

California Credit Union serves as a longtime sponsor of the Academic Decathlon and awarded 15 students with scholarships ranging from $200 to $500 at the banquet.

View the full results of the 2023 Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon on our website. 

CONTACT:

Van Nguyen, LACOE Public Information Officer, (562) 774-6156, Nguyen_Van@lacoe.edu.