Wyoming Wins Challenge Bowl By Dean Clark
Editor, The Leading Edge Amit Padhi and Jorden Hayes, representing the University of Wyoming, captured the championship of the fifth SEG Challenge Bowl with a 170-130 victory over Meriem Griffi and Andrew Brenders in an exciting final round Monday afternoon. The winning team won US$1000 and the runners up got $500.
Until the finals, the Canadians had been the most impressive of the nine student teams which had survived regional competition to earn a trip to the SEG Annual International Meeting in Denver for the world title. Western Ontario blitzed through its first round with 130 points, 50 more than second-place Wyoming. Western Ontario was also the top team in the semifinals with 110 points. Wyoming scored 80 points in that round to gain the other spot in the finals. Saif Ali Mohamed Saeed Al Mesaabi and Osama Al Zinati of the Petroleum Institute of the United Arab Emirates were just behind with 70 points.
However, Wyoming grabbed the lead at the start of the final round, by correctly answering the first two questions, and remained in front the rest of the way. Wyoming built a huge lead in the second round of the finals with correct answers to four straight questions. The lead continued to grow and crested at 170-60 slightly past the midpoint of the second round.
Western Ontario then rallied, nailing five of the final six questions in that round, to close the margin to just 170-140 at the start of the concluding phase of the finals which consisted of 10 deliberately tricky "true-false" questions (or "quick snappers" in the terminology of Challenge Bowl founder Peter Duncan). Wyoming had two correct and two wrong answers to finish with the 170 points it began the round with, while Western Ontario dropped 10 points with two correct answers and three incorrect ones.
The University of Oklahoma and the University of Houston also advanced the semifinals. The other teams which made it to the first round were Cordoba University from Argentina, the University of Naples from Italy, and two teams from the University of Belgrade.
The finals and the various regional challenge bowls were supported by sponsorship funding from 31 companies and geophysical associations.
Special thanks are due to SEG Honorary Member Brian Russell who agreed at the last minute to emcee the first two rounds due to a scheduling conflict by Duncan. However, Duncan, accoutered in his traditional white jacket, arrived in time to oversee the semifinals and finals with his rapid-fire questioning technique. Click here for event photos | |  | | | Photograph by Barchfield Photography | Related Annual Meeting News: | | | |
