From smartest of Valley high school minds, here are the Academic Decathlon winners

Hundreds of central San Joaquin Valley high school students spent the weekend showing just how smart they are for their age.

The 37th annual Academic Decathlon events took place at different Valley high schools Saturday.

Each competition — in Fresno, Tulare, Kings and Madera counties — yielded champions while showcasing some of the smartest Valley high school minds.

Student teams took part in different academic testing competitions, such as art, economics, mathematics, music and science, among others.

The competitions each ended with a Super Quiz, the final activity that tops off each event. Students also take part in impromptu speech, essay and interview competitions.

The theme of the Academic Decathlon competitions this year was “1960s: A Transformational Decade.”

And the best performing schools from each county included: Lemoore Middle College High School in Lemoore (Kings County) with 51,639.4 points; Edison in Fresno (Fresno County) with 50,191.7 points; El Diamante in Visalia (Tulare County) with 40,267 points; Chowchilla (Madera County) with 39,520 points .

Each winning school will advance to the State Academic Decathlon competition in Sacramento, held March 22-23. From there, the state champion will advance to the National Decathlon in Bloomington, Minnesota, held in April.

Here is a breakdown of the Valley’s academic decathlon results:

Fresno County

Superintendent’s Sweepstakes Award: Edison High School, 50,191.7 points

Division 1 winners: First, Edison, 50,191.7 points; Second, University, 50,079.1 points; Third, Bullard, 37,052.3 points

Division 2 winners: First, Fowler, 43,405.8 points; Second, Sanger, 38,745.2 points; Third, Firebaugh, 36237.2 points

Division 3 winners: First, Design Science, 40,268 points; Second, Duncan Polytechnical, 36,333.3 points; Third, Selma, 35,038.9 points

Division 4 winners: First, Coalinga, 30,185 points; Second, Kingsburg, 27,287.8 points; Third, Washington Union, 25,415.8 points

Most improved team: Design Science

Super Quiz: First, University, 5,250 points; Second, Edison, 4,830 points; Third, Fowler, 4,130 points; Fourth, Sanger, 3,710 points; Fifth, Firebaugh, 3,430 points;

Dean’s Medalists (highest scoring students): First, Madelein Fischer, Edison, 9,208 points; Second, Vanessa Lopez, Edison, 8,257 points; Third, Sohan Banerjee, University, 8,108.7 points.

Madera County

Winning decathlon team: Chowchilla

Overall winners: First, Chowchilla Union; Second, Madera South; Third, Yosemite

Super Quiz: Chowchilla

Top decathlete: Madison Ingraham, Chowchilla with 8,260.1 points

Senior honors: Chowchilla — Caleb Lynch, Chawanakee Academy Charter; Madison Ingraham, Glacier — Josh Jeffers; Liberty Madera Ranchos — Thomas Caruso; Madera — Octavio Lara; Madera South — Emmanuel Hernandez; Yosemite — Lillian Dickmeyer.

Kings County

Winning decathlon team: Lemoore Middle College

Overall winners: Lemoore Middle College 36,538.5 points; Sierra Pacific 31,910.6 points; Hanford West 2,673.0 points; Corcoran 21,220.2 points; Hanford 17,026.4 points; Avenal 12,618.4 points

Top Decathlete: Randen Banuelos, Lemoore Middle College, $1,000 scholarship

Top Varsity Student: Jasmine Oliveira, Lemoore Middle College, $500 scholarship

Top Scholarstic Student: Nathalia DeSouza, Lemoore Middle College, $500 scholarship

Top Honors Student: Randen Banuelos, Lemoore Middle College, $500 scholarship

Top Students: Fadel Moflehi, Avenal, $250; Kevin Alvarez, Corcoran, $250; Rodrigo Maldonado, Hanford, $250; Phoua Lee, Hanford West, $250; Nestor Amita, Lemoore, $250; Randen Banuelos, Lemoore Middle College, $250; Arijeet Grewal, Sierra Pacific, $250.

Tulare County

Winning decathlon team: El Diamante Team #2 (Visalia)

Top scoring team, large school category: El Diamante Team #2 (Visalia)

Top scoring team, small school category: Harmony Magnet Academy Team #1 (Strathmore)

Super Quiz: El Diamante Team #2 (Visalia)

Top students from each Academic Decathlon category: Art, Ying Yan and Arjon Batth, El Diamante High School (Visalia); Economics, Yibo Liang, El Diamante (Visalia); Literature, Meera Kashyap, Harmony Magnet Academy (Strathmore); Mathematics, Ryan Cometa, Harmony Magnet Academy (Strathmore) and Preston Niayesh, El Diamante; Music, Ying Yan and David Zegarra, El Diamante; Science, Yibo Liang and Ethan Jarocki, El Diamante; Social Science, Arjon Batth, El Diamante; Essay, Arjon Batth, El Diamante; Interview, Fernando Diaz, Hannah Feil and Kanwar Singh, El Diamante; Speech, Hannah Feil, El Diamante

Top students by division: Honors, Ying Yan, El Diamante; Scholastic, Manuel Hernandez, El Diamante; Varsity, Gwenyth English, Granite Hills.

This story was originally published February 2, 2019 at 10:00 PM.