Elsinore High School defeated 18 high school teams to claim the championship at the 36th Riverside County Academic Decathlon sponsored by the Riverside County Office of Education on Saturday, January 26, and Saturday, February 2, at Vista del Lago High School in Moreno Valley. West Valley High School finished second and Hemet High School Gold was third. Corona High School finished fourth and Beaumont High School Blue was fifth overall. Elsinore High School was the winner of the popular Super Quiz held earlier in the day. The theme for 2019 is “The 1960s: A Transformational Decade”. The first day of this year’s competition was Saturday, January 26, and featured essay writing, speeches, and interviews. Activities on February 2 included completion via written tests in seven subject areas, followe by the popular Super Quiz. Lake Elsinore will represent Riverside County at the California Academic Decathlon held on March 21-24, 2019, in Sacramento. The California state champion advances to United States Academic Decathlon on April 25-27, 2019, in Bloomington, Minnesota. In the 2018 Riverside County Academic Decathlon, finishing behind Elsinore High School was Great Oak High School (Temecula Valley USD). Corona High School Gold (Corona-Norco USD) was third, while San Jacinto High School (San Jacinto USD) finished fourth and Beaumont High School Blue (Beaumont USD) was fifth. Each team is composed of nine students, three from each grade point category, and includes three Honor (GPA 3.75-4.00), three Scholastic (GPA 3.00-3.74), and three Varsity (GPA 0.00-2.99) students. Students accumulate individual and team points in written events in mathematics, economics, art, music, literature, science, social science, and Super Quiz.