By Anna Guido
Enquirer contributor

INDIAN HILL - Cincinnati Country Day School's National Science Bowl team didn't make it to the winners' bracket Sunday, but came close.

A total of 16 teams - of 64 regional qualifiers - advanced to the championship rounds Monday in Washington, D.C.

"We ended up in a three-way tie for 16th, but we lost by one point in the tiebreaker," said head coach and science teacher Kevin Koller.

Cincinnati Country Day was the only school in Ohio to qualify for the national event, beating out 23 Tristate schools for a chance to compete in Washington.

It was the second year in a row that Cincinnati Country Day qualified for nationals.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Bowl is a premier high school science and mathematics competition.

Academic competition began Sunday with 11 round-robin matches, followed by double elimination matches to determine the top 16 teams. Finalist rounds were held Monday.

The top three teams got to choose among prizes, including a two-week trip to England in August to attend the International Youth Science Forum. The top 16 teams each received $1,000 for their schools' science departments.

More information and a complete list of winners are available at www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb.