SQL & PL/SQL :: Getting Highest Value From Varchar Column

I've a large table on which I applying aggregate and group by functions to the the results.

Here are two of the columns in my table:

Name ==== Score
John ==== 200*
Zohaib ==== 299
Ali ==== 0*
John ==== 200
Maria ==== 150*
Ali ==== 0
Maria ==== absent
John ==== absent

Here astrick (*) means with distinction....

The "score" column is a varchar column I want to run a query on this table to show the highest score for each student and the output should be like this:

Name ==== Score
Zohaib ==== 299
John ==== 200*
Maria ==== 150*
Ali ==== 0*

Important note:

1. if there is a tie between two highest scores like for a student, incase of john 200 was made twice, but the score with asterick (*) will be the "maximum" becuase it is with distinction so the output should also show the the highest score with asterick.

2. the output should show the the 2nd column (score) in desc order of highest score by each student...again incase of a tie, the one with astrick will come first in the result..

I know with just mere numbers, that is pretty easy but in this case it is a varchar column and also i need the astrick along with the highest score.

I want the simplest and shortest query if possible to achieve this result

I hope I've been able to clearly explain my requirment. I am using 10G.