La Salle decathlon team medals at Yale University tournament

Six students from La Salle College in Pasadena took home 39 medals at the World Scholars Cup Tournament of Champions at Yale University last month. 

Split into teams of three, the Lancers were up against over 400 other teams from 58 different countries. They competed in four separate events: the Scholars Challenge, an arduous 120-question multiple choice test on six different subjects; a collaborative essay; three team debates; and the Scholars bowl, a combination of game show and audio-visual madness. 

Before competing at Yale, the Lancers qualified with wins in the Global Round in Sydney, Australia — the third consecutive year that teams from La Salle have been eligible to compete in the World Scholars Cup. 

The first team, with seniors Gwyneth Schoenbaum, Joshua Ng, and Samantha Grijalva, finished in 69th place overall. Individually, they won 11 gold medals and seven silver medals. Together they finished in 26th place for the team challenge, 70th place for the collaborative essay, and 69th overall for the team debate.

The second team, with seniors Kate Mena, Katie Nuzzi, and Kees Hood, won a total of  11 gold medals and five silver medals combined. As a team, they finished in 19th place for the Team Challenge, which is the highest finish that either team received in any event. 

In January and February, these same Lancers (along with about 20 others), led by coach John Erb, will vie in the Academic Decathlon competition at Alemany High School, where they will compete against more than 40 teams from other private schools in the greater Los Angeles area.

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