Pictured from left are Wheeling Park High School Science Bowl Team members Makenna Kelly, Ryan Linder, Grant Kenamond, Kathryn Prather and Mariana Alkhouri.

Following a valiant effort, Wheeling Park High School finished as runner up in the annual West Virginia Science Bowl competition.

 The virtual state contest was held Feb. 3-4, and Wheeling Park advanced through seven rounds before falling to eventual state champion Morgantown High School. The competition involves biology, chemistry, physics, earth and space science and energy, and all of the questions are of college or graduate-school level.

 Patriot science bowl coach Kevin Orth said he was proud of the team, and he commended the members for their exceptional effort in the competition.

 “Our team did extremely well this year,” Orth said. “Our students come to school at 6:30 a.m. every Wednesday to practice for this competition. It’s a lot of hard work and dedication, and we are very pleased with the outcome. We made it all the way to the state championship match, which took seven rounds of defeating the other teams. Unfortunately, we came up short in the championship, but I couldn’t be more proud of the team.”

 With its victory, Morgantown will travel to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Science Bowl. The national competition will be held in April .