For five years running, Sweetwater high schools have shut out the competition in the San Diego County Academic Decathlon.

Southwest High is basking in the afterglow of its second consecutive first-place finish, after breaking Hilltop High’s three-year streak of dominating the event. This year, Hilltop’s team took second place, while the Sweetwater District’s Eastlake, Mar Vista, Chula Vista and Sweetwater high schools took fifth, eighth, ninth and tenth places, respectively.

Sweetwater honors its winning team: The Southwest High Academic Decathlon winners, coach Ken Boulton and Principal Luis Maestre are recognized by the Board President Pearl Quiñones and her fellow board members.

Teams throughout the county of San Diego spend all fall and winter preparing for this annual battle of the brains, spending their lunch hours, afternoons and even Saturdays quizzing each other on topics including art, economics, language, literature, music and science. They prove their mettle by acing multiple-choice sections and nailing essays, interviews and speeches.

This year’s top-notch team at Southwest High has two decathlon veterans. Abigail Criss took home six medals and Orlando Escobales nabbed five. They were joined by Jasmin Borja, who earned seven medals, Yesua Araiza with four, Wigbrian Castillo and Pablo Rojas with three medals each, Ashley Roane and Tricia Santos with two, and Leslie Lizarraga with one. Eight of those individual awards were gold, accompanied by 12 silver and 13 bronze. Hilltop High’s team took home 19 medals in individual categories.

Sweetwater District schools and individual students broke records in nearly every category. In fact, one district student—Aimee Humphrey of Eastlake High—scored a perfect 1,000 on her essay for the competition. And that’s something that just hasn’t happened in recent history.

Southwest High garnered a total of 41,765 points in the February event—that’s more than have been racked up by any one team in the entire county in the past six years. And the team’s Jasmin Borja and Abigail Criss were the top two overall scorers in the county this year.

“The amount of preparation for this competition is astounding,” said Sweetwater Board President Pearl Quiñones. “These students have dedicated countless hours to honing their knowledge, and that kind of perseverance is to be applauded.”

Southwest High’s academic decathlon team, coach Kenneth Boulton and principal Luis Maestre were recognized at the Sweetwater District’s March 8 board meeting. And the San Diego County Office Board of Education will do the same at its March meeting.