The ninth annual Wayne State College geography bowl winner was team “Rowdy Boyz,” who beat the team “I don’t know how we got roped into this!” with the final wager round ending 14-13.

Team “Rowdy Boyz” consisted of WSC seniors Ben Rieckman and Cory Leitschuck. Team “I don’t know how we got roped into this!” was compiled by WSC sophomores Abby Miller and Marlene Mueller.

The annual geography bowl was started in November 2011 to kick off the celebration of Geography Awareness Week; this year’s awareness week spans Nov. 10-16.

“We hope the event generated excitement about geography, which is part of the mission of Geography Awareness Week,” Dr. Lesli Rawlings said.

National Geographic magazine provides additional information regarding the mission and history of Geography Awareness Week.

Rawlings was the coordinator of the geography bowl and Dr. Randy Bertolas was the emcee. A few other faculty members served as judges but the event was mostly run by students. Students competed on teams, assisted by keeping score and time, worked the registration desk, distributed prizes, and assisted with set-up and clean-up.

“We have seven games,” Rawlings said. “Some of the questions are toss-up, while others are placed into categories called current events and world regional geography.”

After the first rounds of competition, eight teams quickly turned into four who were excited to have gotten to the quarter-finals. After the quarter-finals, only the two strongest teams survived.

Before the final wager round, team “Rowdy Boyz” was down with seven points while team “I don’t know how we got roped into this!” was up with 14 points. Team “I don’t know how we got roped into this!” wagered one point while team “Rowdy Boyz” wagered all seven of its points.

Team “Rowdy Boyz” took the lead, 14-13, after answering the final question correctly. Both members of the winning team are geography majors with minors in geospatial technology.

“It’s a very good [feeling],” Rieckman said, after winning the ninth annual geography bowl.

Both Rieckman and Leitschuck said they did not study, but the questions they did know the answer to, they just knew off the top of their heads.

“It was fun and unexpected, yeah, it was pretty great,” Miller said. “I’m glad we got roped into this.”

The first-place team received two $50 gift certificates to Godfather’s Pizza in Wayne and the second-place team received two WSC ball caps and maps.

As intermissions, students who attended the geography bowl had the chance to win some door prizes which were sponsored and provided by the WSC Student Organization and the Geographic Educators of Nebraska.