Update: The story has been revised to reflect updated scoring by the Fresno County Office of the Superintendent of Schools.

Hallmark Academy, a Sanger Unified alternative school of choice for K-12 students, claimed first place Saturday in the Fresno County Academic Decathlon.

The school dethroned the longtime county champion, University High, winning the Super Quiz and the overall championship. Twenty-three teams from high schools in Fresno, Clovis, Kerman, Fowler, Kingsburg, Reedley, Orange Cove, Firebaugh, and Coalinga competed.

Hallmark’s overall score was 45.898.6, about 200 points higher than University High’s 45,690.2 points.

The other eight schools in the top 10: Sanger High came in third at 32,628.6, followed by Design Science (32,288.7), Clovis High (31,776.0), Sunnyside High (31,253.5). Clovis North (30,738.2), Kerman High (29,748.9), Bullard High (28,231.8), and Buchanan High (28,135.4). (The story originally had reported Design Science in fifth place. The scores of Sanger High, Design Science, Clovis North have been updated.)

Hallmark, University, Sanger, Design Science, Clovis North, and Bullard competed in Division 1, and Clovis, Sunnyside, Kerman, and Buchanan competed in Division 2.

University High came in second behind Hallmark Academy in the Super Quiz, followed by Clovis North, Design Science, and Clovis High.

Heading to State Championship Competition

Hallmark will next represent Fresno County in the state championship competition next month at the Santa Clara Marriott. The winner of the state championship will travel to the national competition in May in Des Moines, Iowa. This year’s theme is “Our Changing Climate.”

Hallmark opened in 1990 and has a total enrollment of about 300 students, of whom about half are in grades 9 through 12. Hallmark’s academic decathlon team traveled to last year’s National Academic Decathlon competition in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where it took first place among the Division V schools.

University High competed last year in the online Small Schools decathlon and took first place for the 16th time since 2007.