Woodbridge High School’s Academic Decathlon Team (pictured above) won the county championship, marking their seventh win in eight years!
The announcement came during the February 9, 2024 awards ceremony at Orange Coast College, where medals were presented to the top teams and individual scholars. After amassing an impressive 44,488.6 points at the two-day Orange County Academic Decathlon, the Woodbridge squad now advances to the state competition, which will be held in Santa Clara from March 21 to March 24.
Also making the trip will be University High School's team (pictured below), which placed second overall. This is the sixth time Uni has placed in the top five, qualifying for the California Academic Decathlon. Adding to their accomplishments this year, Uni's team took first place in the Super Quiz event for the first time in the school’s history!
According to Woodbridge’s coaches, the team worked together to keep each other motivated and engaged throughout the process, and it was ultimately a great learning experience for the newest members of the team.
“We are especially proud of this team as we lost eight seniors from last year's championship team,” said Coach Shan Wu. “With only two returning team members with Academic Decathlon experience and a primarily sophomore core, we went into this year thinking it would be a rebuilding year. Instead, the students took on the challenge of three-peating and earned another well-deserved championship!”
Coach Mike Nakaue said, “Our Woodbridge High School team members were ecstatic about their first-place overall score. Their hard work paid off and they were able to achieve their goals. Now we’re on to the state competition.”Since scoring their first victory in 2006, the Warriors have been a model of excellence and consistency, securing four consecutive championships from 2017 to 2020 before reclaiming the top spot in 2022.
Overall team results
The Orange County Academic Decathlon was held over two Saturdays, on Jan. 27 and Feb. 3. Only four Orange County teams advance to the state competition and IUSD has two of the four schools advancing!
Below are the top four teams that will advance to the state competition and their scores.
DIVISION 1
- Woodbridge High School: 44,488.6 (first place)
- University High School: 40,013.2 (second place)
- Valencia High School: 39,586.6 (third place)
- Westminster High School: 36,628.3 (fourth place)
Congratulations to the Woodbridge and Uni teams! Go get ’m at state!
