|
Harker bowls over Lowell in science
The competition was heated at SLAC’s second annual regional tournament of the US Department of Energy Science Bowl. Alex Trebek and Regis Philbin wouldn’t hold a candle to SLAC’s science questioners, who probed the high school competitors about topics from quarks and DNA to volcanoes and supernovae. The turnout from the local high schools was so overwhelming that the tournament brackets had to be redrawn to accommodate the extra schools.
The initial round-robin phase saw several clear favorites emerge from the group; Los Gatos looked strong after defeating a tenacious Harker (San Jose) team in the first round. Lincoln (San Jose) put in an adroit performance, but Lowell (San Francisco) emerged as the team to beat.
As the competition moved into the elimination rounds, Harker got revenge on Los Gatos in the semifinal and moved on to face Lowell in the final match. Lowell, unbeaten at this stage, had to lose twice to cede the championship, while Harker, having lost one match already, could not afford to lose at all. Harker took the first game in decisive fashion, setting the stage for a winner-take-all final.
Both teams had played 10 matches already, but they showed no signs of injuries or fatigue, and the low-scoring match was hard-fought. The lead changed hands several times, prompting nervous looks on the faces of the team coaches. Finally, after losing points on several unfortunate interruptions, Harker (shown in photo) came through to take the lead, the match, and the competition. They will head to Nationals at the end of April in Washington, DC. The competitors’ level of knowledge stunned the SLAC staff, and it was generally agreed that no team of scientists here could have done as well as these students.
Travis Brooks, SLAC
Click here to download the pdf version of this article.
