Hemet, West Valley and Elsinore High Schools often post high scores, but they say competition from Los Angeles-based high school teams (and frequent state champions) such as Marshall, William Howard Taft and Granada Hills Charter High Schools is particularly tough. Riverside County teams had been happy to be in the game at all.
But this year, Hemet High is ranked 11th and West Valley is 14th out of 20 schools in the top bracket, meaning a top-10 state finish for one or both teams is possible. Rankings are based on total team scores from the county competition.The state championships, which are taking place in Sacramento Friday, March 21 through Sunday, consist of a five-hour round of testing on Friday, followed by speeches, interviews and the game show-like Super Quiz relay on Saturday.This year’s theme was World War I. Final awards and rankings will be given out Sunday morning.Hemet coach Art Plinksi said his team has found the competition challenging, but said they’re trying to stay positive.“(The team is) not as confident as they were at county,” he said. “They thought the L.A. schools set the bar really high.”West Valley coach Tim Hannem said he’s proud of his team, regardless of the results.“We feel pretty confident,” he said. “All we can do is keep working hard and putting in ungodly hours.”Elsinore, which won third place at county, is ranked ninth in division II, or 29th in the state.This is their third year attending the state championships.“It feels pretty good (to be here),” said Elsinore coach Ryann Klopp. “The last few years have been really great in terms of increasing Riverside’s presence up here.”But the teams agree that it’s not all pressure in Sacramento.“We’re trying to have a little bit of fun,” said Hannem. “This trip is in a lot of ways a reward for all the hard work they’ve put in so far.”Team members said that something they didn’t expect from state was how much camaraderie they would share with the competition.Hemet High and West Valley, enemies at the county competition, shared a bus ride up North.“It’s was really cool, because at county we see only our enemies,” said West Valley team member Hannah Silveira. “It’s great to share some Riverside pride at state.”The main event for team bonding is the fabled “nerd ball,” the annual student dance held Saturday night after the Super Quiz. It often causes equal amounts terror and excitement among team members.“Actually, this year we’re really excited,” Silveira said. “Everyone’s getting dressed up, and there’s no more sense of competition.”Contact Kyle Lundberg at klundb[email protected]