Copyright SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY Jan 12, 2001

EL CAJON -- Alex Dealy didn't have an ordinary hobby. When his father gave him a city map at age 7 he memorized the streets.

Then, just for fun, those in adjacent cities.

Alex, now 10, has amassed Thomas Brothers maps from here to Santa Barbara. He can rattle off alternative routes to most destinations in San Diego -- which means with Alex in the
back seat, his parents rarely get lost.

"I've found my real talent, and I just keep developing it and developing it," said Alex, a fifth-grader at Deer Canyon School in Poway.
If you were offered chang in Tibet, what would you do with it: Eat it, buy something with it or drink it?
Answer: Drink it.
Alexander the Great's worst defeat, with a loss of some 60,000 lives, came not from a human foe but from what geographical adversary: Zagros Mountains, Hellespont, or Gedrosia
Desert?Answer: Gedrosia Desert

These were two of the questions students were quizzed on. This is the Geography Olympiad's eighth year. And each time the competition gets more creative.

During the "speed map" competition, students pieced together unlabeled foam portions of a United States map in minutes.

Students formed groups representing fictitious countries, to trade resources. They negotiated for raw clothing materials, lumber, fossil fuels and minerals.

"If you had a monopoly you could get nasty," said Andrew Wan, an eighth-grader at Diegueno Junior High School in Encinitas. His country, Technora, had most of the electronics.

But the competition is only part of the story. The annual olympiad means months of preparation.

And few campuses prepare more than Del Mar Heights School. The school's sixth-graders were the olympiad's grand champions yesterday. This is a campus that's placed first three years in a row.

At Del Mar, children test to get onto the team. They forsake lunches and recess to be coached by 22 parents, who duck out of work to coach kids on flashcards.

This isn't a class. But, the children take on an hour of homework every day.

Third-grader George Kailas' interest in geography was sparked by curiosity about the snowy climate where his cousins live in New York and New Jersey.

"A lot of people think geography is about memorizing state capitals," he said. "But that's basic stuff. Geography is knowing about the whole world."

Though George was a newcomer to the world of geography olympiads, yesterday he showed up confident and ready to compete.

Among the winners for the third-through-fifth-grade division, Deer Canyon placed first, Del Mar Heights second, and Park Village Elementary in Poway third.

In the sixth-through-eighth division, Del Mar Heights took first, Mesa Verde in Rancho Penasquitos second, and Lewis Middle School in Allied Gardens third. Del Mar Heights won
with only sixth-graders and an incomplete team.

The olympiad was sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education and the Greater San Diego Geographic Alliance. This year's event drew 21 schools, fewer than in past
years.

Emily Schell, event coordinator for the county education office, attributed the decline to an increased emphasis on standardized tests, which don't focus on geography.

"We have politicians and superintendents who are saying don't do anything but reading or math," she said. "And here, whether it's Del Mar or San Ysidro, we have children excited
about a part of the curriculum we largely ignore. They're willing to give up free time to study for this."

Schools are selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

Frederick Cheung, a seventh-grader at Lewis, considers giving up his free time to study geography his obligation as an American.

"We're a country that doesn't like learning other languages, and that's a fault of ours," he said. "I think people should understand that not everything worth having is tangible.
Knowledge, particularly knowledge of geography, is invaluable."

[Illustration]
4 PICS | 1 CHART; Caption: 1. Elaine Stanley, (left) of Thomas Brothers Maps, pointed to Italy on a globe as she asked a geography question of (left to right) Christian Ward, 9, Micaela Gomez,
9, and Brenda Quintero, 10, during the county Geography Olympiad yesterday. 2. Rancho Penasquitos Park Village School students (clockwise from left) Eileen Shi, 8, Alex Galindo, 10, Anya
Lundeberg, 8, and Anthony Lucisano, 9, put together a map puzzle of the U.S. during the olympiad. 3. Zack Haisan, 9, of San Pasqual Elementary School, spun a wheel to determine his category
during the Geography Olympiad yesterday at Grossmont College. (B-2:1; B-4:2) 4. Carlsbad's Mission Estancia third-graders (left to right) Daniella Lisle, 8, Dani Manning, 9, and Jack Losey, 9,
put together pieces of a foam-rubber map puzzle during the contest. (B-2:1) 5. Take the test (B-3:7; B-2:1; B-4:2,6); Credit: 1,2,3,4. Laura Embry / Union-Tribune photos

Credit: STAFF WRITER