Top-10 finish for Yuma High

Yuma High School finished in eighth place among high schools across Arizona competing in the state Academic Decathlon last weekend, and four students from Yuma took home individual medals.

One Cibola High school student received a gold medal in the competition, while three Yuma High students also earned medals. Cibola ranked 20th in the competition.

Mesa's Mountain View High School took first place and will represent Arizona in the national competition April 14-17 in Boise, Idaho. The Mountain View team amassed 49,023 points, the highest total ever achieved by an Arizona team in 20 years, according to the Arizona Department of Education.

The competition tests student teams' knowledge in different scholastic categories, among them interview, speech, essay, language and literature, math, music, super quiz, economics, social science and art.

Jae Bang of Cibola took the gold medal in math. Yuma High's Adam Flynn took a silver in economics, Andrew Weekes received a bronze in economics and Kirsta Marlatt earned a bronze in language and literature.

"To get a medal, you have to be first, second or third among 120 kids," said Diane Tyree, coach of the Yuma High team. "That is quite an accom- plishment."

Yuma High's team scored more than 41,000 points in the competition - an improvement over its score in last month's regional competition - 39,780. Yuma and Cibola high schools' top 10 finishes in the regional decathlon enabled them to advance to the state competition.

Tyree said Yuma High's score in the state decathlon was its highest ever and came in what she described as an intensely competitive event.

"We had a great year, a great team and I'm really proud of the kids," she said.

After Mountain View, the top finishers were Canyon del Oro of Tucson; North High School, Phoenix; Skyline High School, Mesa; Red Mountain High School, Mesa; Dobson High School, Mesa; and Westwood High School, Mesa.

Catalina Foothills High School and University High School, both of Tucson, finished ninth and 10th, respectively, in the competition.

This is the fourth and last year Tyree will coach the Yuma High team. She is moving to California.