April 30, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Rancho Bernardo Successfully Defends County Academic League Championship

SAN DIEGO -- Rancho Bernardo High School won its second consecutive San Diego County Academic League Championship Thursday night with a convincing victory over La Jolla High School in the title match.

The Broncos, champions of the North County Academic League, participated in the championship tournament against the three other regional champions from the county. All of the contests were broadcast live on ITV from the campus of the San Diego County Office of Education.

Rancho Bernardo pulled out to an early 25-4 lead in the first five minutes of the 30-minute championship match. Just five minutes later, the Broncos held a commanding 45-4 lead, thanks in large part to the fast buzzing in of junior Lucas Brown on the toss-up questions.

With just under four minutes remaining in the match, Rancho Bernardo was in front, 93-57. At that point, the Vikings went on a roll, but came up short, 99-77.

Members of the champion Bronco squad, in addition to Lucas Brown, are seniors Julia Brown (captain), Kevin Chang, Scarlett Chen, Tiffany Dharma, Elle Keck, Jarred Mihalik, and Sumukh Sathnur. Rancho Bernardo's coach is physics teacher Yvonne Eibeck.

Earlier in the evening, Rancho Bernardo defeated Hilltop, champions of the South County, 102-45. The Broncos, once again led by the quick buzzing in of Lucas Brown, often earned the full five points on their bonus questions. Rancho Bernardo pulled out to a 30-3 lead in the first six minutes, and held a 77-11 advantage half-way through the match.

The other semi-final match saw La Jolla, the City League champion, defeat East County's champion, Santana, 108-22.