Coast Union best new team at state Cyber Innovation Challenge

What better news for Independence Day week than being honored as a CyberPatriot?

That’s what appeared on the Coast Unified website this week, where it was announced that five Coast Union High School students had been named “Best New Team” at the California Cyber Innovation Challenge.

The Coast team was one of 16 that competed in the state championship at Cal Poly on the weekend of June 24. Members of the team were Luis Plascencia, Nick Roper, Alan Romo, Trent Ferguson and Jack MacKinnon.

The day-and-a-half competition included a forensics challenge and a CyberPatriot networking/systems competition, the district said on its website. Each team delivered a report on a cyber crime to a panel of judges Sunda. “It was a grueling weekend, and not many of the competitors slept more than two hours on Saturday night preparing their presentation for their presentation the next morning.”

Four team awards were presented: Best Overall, Best CyberPatriot Team, Best Digital Forensics Challenge and Best New Cyber Team. Teams from North Hollywood High School won in the other three categories.

Coast alum shines

Elizabeth Magnuson, a freshman in pre-communication at Oregon State University, has a straight-A average there.

Magnuson, a former standout pitcher on the Coast Union softball team, graduated in 2016.

This story was originally published July 4, 2017 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Coast Union best new team at state Cyber Innovation Challenge."