Sparta - Nick Dahlberg, a senior at Sparta High School, received the highest score in the state and took first place in the recent Olympiada of Spoken Russian competition. His score won him a spot on the American team that will be competing at the International Olympiada of Spoken Russian in Moscow this summer. After the competition, Dahlberg will spend a week touring Moscow, followed by a two-week stay with a Russian family. “The judges were so impressed with Nick that they could not believe he did not have family from Russia or that he didn’t speak Russian at home,” said Eric Hood, Dahlberg’s Russian language teacher. Hood’s student at Sparta High prepared for months for the Olympiada competition, which involved high school students from New Jersey schools. Besides Dahlberg, the entire Sparta team made a strong showing overall. The Olympiada of Spoken Russian competition is a nationwide contest for students of Russian, sponsored by the Washington, D.C., based American Council of Teachers of Russian. The competition requires students to compete in three commissions: conversation, civilization and read/recite. In the first commission, students must answer questions in Russian about themselves and their lives, discussing school, their families, free time, their likes and dislikes. The second commission requires them to answer questions on a Russian culture topic, such as geography, history, literature, composers or art. For the third commission, the students must recite a poem and then read a story or anecdote, and answer questions concerning what they read.