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CORVALLIS, Ore. - For the fourth consecutive year, a team from Neah-Kah-Nie High School has won the regional Salmon Bowl competition at Oregon State University, and qualified for a trip to nationals.

The winners are coached by Peter Walczak and Beth Gienger. Team members include captain Linse Sullivan, Tres Imholt, Sam Juliussen, Daniel Woodward and Grayce Beebe. They received $1,000 scholarships, a $300 Vernier gift certificate, National Audubon Society books on marine life, and tickets to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.

Skyview High took second place; the Benson High "A" team was third; Clatskanie was fourth.

The questions were difficult, team members say. In the final round, for example, students from Neah-Kah-Nie and Skyview were asked this question:

When sodium chloride is dissolved in pure water, the actual volume of the solution is less than the volume expected. This can be explained by the physical property of ion-water interaction known as what? A) electrostriction; B) evaporation; C) fractionation; and D) sublimation.

The answer, of course, is electrostriction.

Another question challenged the high school students to name three of the four tectonic plates abutting the Nazca plate. Any three of these four would have done it: Cocos Plate, Pacific Plate, Antarctic Plate and South American Plate.

OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Science hosted the regional event, drawing teams from Oregon and Washington for the regional competition.

The winning Neah-Kah-Nie team will represent the region at the 12th annual National Ocean Sciences Bowl April 25-27 in Washington, D.C. The national competition is a program developed by the Consortium for Ocean Leadership to raise student interest in ocean sciences as a potential field of study and a career choice. The national event will be held at the Smithsonian Museum.

Competing teams included: Astoria High School (two teams); Benson Polytechnic, Portland (three teams); Clatskanie High School; Crater High School, Central Point; Crescent Valley High School, Corvallis; Hidden Valley High School, Grants Pass; Lebanon High School; McMinnville High School; Neah-Kah-Nie High School, Rockaway Beach (two teams); Oregon Coast Aquarium (a team from Newport-area high schools); Seaside High School; Skyview High School, Vancouver, Wash.

For more information on OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, visit the college website at: http://www.coas.oregonstate.edu/