"In what part of the chloroplast is carbon fixed during the Calvin cycle?" (See end of story for answer.)

That was one of the biology questions at Saturday's Southwestern Pennsylvania Science Bowl competition, which involved more than 150 students from more than 20 schools, including Montour and South Fayette high schools.

The competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, was held at the Community College of Allegheny County South campus in West Mifflin.

It was Montour's first time in the competition, according to teacher Pam DiIanni. While her team finished second in its division and did not advance to the next round, she said it was a worthwhile experience.

"This was the first time we competed in this event and I think our team did pretty well," she said.

Montour was in the Monongahela division - one of four named after rivers, with the others being Allegheny, Ohio and Youghiogheny.

The team consisted of junior Michael Kochis, senior Mike Pavilonis, senior Josh Bryan, senior Carly Zwilcher and junior Staci Sutermaster, an alternate.

South Fayette had separate teams in the Monongahela and Ohio divisions. Although neither won its division, high school enrichment coordinator Mary Quirk said she was proud of their performances. Both teams had records of seven wins and two losses.

She coached the Monongahela team, which consisted of junior Zach Fisher, junior Ryan Long, junior Cameron Karlock and sophomore Anna Boyer.

High school chemistry teacher Kevin Barry coached the Ohio River team: senior Keelen Collins, junior Adam Benton, junior Dylan Kerney, senior A.J. Morelli and senior Eric Wise.

South Fayette has participated for several years.

In all, 37 teams representing 23 schools in the region competed by answering questions dealing with math, biology, chemistry, astronomy and other science topics in the preliminary round.

Four schools will advance to the regional championship March 3 with that school qualifying for the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C.

The competition involves students answering questions "Jeopardy"-style with buzzers.

Students prepared for the competition by taking quizzes on websites and studying their school curriculum.

(The answer to the biology question: stroma.)

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.