Academic Decathletes Shine at Regional Competition

Students from three separate Hart School District high schools distinguished themselves last weekend at the two-day Academic Decathlon regional competition held at El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera.
West Ranch ranked 13th and Saugus ranked 15th in Division 1, with Saugus placing 6th in the Super Quiz competition. Hart tied for third in Division 3 Super Quiz. Saugus had six students win individual medals, including five for Miles Hawkins, three of which were gold. West Ranch had eight students win 12 medals and Hart had three students earn five medals.
The students competing for West Ranch were: Jessalyn Aguirre, Ethan Balgemino, Shane Cho, Edward Kim, Gokul Mohanty, James Park, Isaac Ruiz, Mitali Sakharkar and Dorathy Twitchell. Shane Cho was the top decathlete from West Ranch.
The students competing for Saugus were: Mariah Anderson, Ashley Calkins, Andrew Chao, Azalea Clavijo, Will D’Angerio, Miles Hawkins, Zoe Jensen, Jack Kosek, John Nyugen, Nancy Prociuk, Julia Provost, Allyssa Tan, Joanna Veres, Amanda West, Adam White and Noah Woltman. Miles Hawkins was the top decathlete from Saugus.
The students competing for Hart were: Ben Arriaga, Joe Brennan, Zach Buhle, Daniel Gajewski, Mary Miles, Nathan Miranda, Stuart Partida and Isabel Watson. Joe Brennan was the top decathlete from Hart.
A total of 42 teams competed in the regionals, with the top eight moving on to the state competition.