Sean Keller, a seventh-grader at Madison Middle School, took second place last Friday in the statewide Washington Geographic Bee in Tacoma.

Competition began in the morning, with the field of 100 school champions split among five separate, but identical, preliminary rounds. The judge for Keller's round was particularly distinguished - she was Caitlin Snaring, the 2007 National Champion from Redmond. The preliminary round consisted of eight questions each. Keller correctly answered all eight. So did 20 other contestants.

The purpose of the preliminary round was to reduce the field of 100 to 10. Never before, not even in this state with more national champions than any other, had a tiebreaker round been necessary to eliminate contestants with perfect scores. By comparison, the Oregon Bee, on this same day, produced only eight perfect scores.

In the sudden-death tiebreaker format, Keller correctly answered another four questions. For the first time in his four trips to State, he would compete on stage in the afternoon's Final Round.

The round of 10 finalists began with only nine. The 10th competitor had become so ill over the noon break that she or he had to leave the competition. The format for the Final Round was double elimination until only two remained. One by one, they fell. Keller, however, got stronger with each question, 15 more without a miss. He was now the only competitor with a perfect score.

The fabric of the Bee was woven by fifth- through eighth-grade students from throughout the state: Anacortes to Yakima, Camas to Clarkston, Republic to Pomeroy - 83 boys and 17 girls. The Championship Round came down to two, last year's runner-up from Friday Harbor vs. the first-time finalist from West Seattle.

The Championship Round opened with a best-of-three set of questions. Keller and Zachary Reshovsky each aced the set. Now again, the Bee became sudden death, one question at a time. The fourth question sounded like a killer: "Dragon's Mouths and Serpent's Mouth separate the island of Trinidad from which South American country?" Each read aloud his written answer. Keller: "Venezuela." Reshovsky: "Venezuela." Correct, and so it went with the fifth question also. "Bay of Bengal." "Bay of Bengal."

The sixth question concerned physical geography. "Name the biome consisting mainly of evergreen trees and typically found south of the tundra in the northern hemisphere." "Taiga." "Taiga." Keller had now answered correctly 33 questions in a row, and the Bee was headed to a moment of high drama.

"Walvis Bay, the largest port in Namibia, was ruled by which country until 1994?" Keller: "The Netherlands." Reshovsky: "United Kingdom." For the first time, different responses. Was this the defining moment of the Bee? The tension of anticipation in the audience was palpable. The answer: South Africa! Each had missed.

The next question, concerning the northwest coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, determined the outcome. Of the two Scandinavian countries that ring the Gulf, Keller picked Finland while eighth-grader Reshovsky picked Sweden. The latter will advance to the national championship. As Vice-Champion, Keller would represent Washington State should Reshovsky become unable to do so.

The 20th Anniversary Bee was sponsored nationwide by the timber resources giant Plum Creek, the largest and most geographically diverse private landowner in the nation. The questions came from the National Geographic Society. To the Society's credit, there seemed to be fewer rogue questions and fewer contrived questions this year.

Locally, Alki Elementary, Schmitz Park Elementary, and Madison Middle School have traditionally participated in the school-level Bee.

Try the test.

John Leonard may be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com