A team from Wayzata Central Middle School captured the regional Science Bowl title and are heading to the Washington, D.C., area for a shot at being national champion.

One of the school’s two teams defeated a squad from Eden Prairie Central on Saturday at the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering.

Now it’s on to the Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl, April 25-29, at the National 4-H Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Md.

Late last month, a team from Wayzata High School pulled off the same feat and is going to the same national gathering.

Competing for Wayzata Central Middle School were Khoi Le, Samarth Ram, Matthew Chen, Sidarth Gazula and Aneesh Swaminathan. Their coach was Michelle Reinke. This team worked together to place first among 22 teams competing in the tournament.

A total of 120 students from 22 teams representing 12 schools (some schools entered multiple teams) participated in the tournament. The teams spent months preparing for the event, which features head-to-head competition in a fast-paced question-and-answer format similar to the “Jeopardy” television show.

The students were quizzed on questions in biology, chemistry, earth and space science, energy, mathematics and physics.

Paul Walsh