MURFREESBORO – Do you know which state is the home of the Grand Cooley Dam?

Who is the author of &uot;The Road Not Taken&uot;?

What is the form of government in the United Kingdom?

The Red Cross originated in what country?

If your respective answers were Washington, Robert Frost, Constitutional Monarchy and Switzerland, then you just might fare very well at a Quiz Bowl contest.

Those questions and others were part of the Albemarle Regional Library Local Quiz Bowl, an annual event held Saturday at the Elizabeth Sewell Parker Memorial Library in Murfreesboro.

When the questions ended, the team representing Hertford County High School had earned first place honors. The HCHS students, under the supervision of Sarah Davis, went undefeated during the three-team match, which took approximately 90 minutes to complete.

Northeast Academy placed second followed by Gates County High School in third. All three teams qualified for the District Quiz Bowl, an event scheduled for March 19 in Elizabeth City. The District winner advances to the North Carolina Quiz Bowl, set for April 23 at Research Triangle Park.

&uot;We were very pleased with the participation we had here today, both from the three teams that each represented their schools in a first-class manner as well as the support from the adults in attendance,&uot; said Sue Williams, Director of the Albemarle Regional Library System.

She continued, &uot;These young people are to be praised for their knowledge in a variety of subjects. I was also extremely impressed with their poise. You each handled yourselves in a very positive manner in the heat of competition.&uot;

That competition was comprised of three rounds of questioning per match. In round one, moderator Dr. Kenneth Wolfskill, professor of Language and Literature at Chowan College, posed 10-point questions to each of the four students that represented their respective schools. A wrong answer or no answer within a time limit allowed a member of the other school to collect five points if they responded with the correct answer.

Team members were allowed to collaborate before answering questions in rounds two and three. Twenty points were awarded for a correct response in round two (10 points for a &uot;steal&uot; by the other team). In round three, 30 points were rewarded (15 points for a &uot;steal&uot;).

In round one, HCHS edged Northeast Academy, 115-85, on the final question, a query that asked what the next Internet &uot;junk mail&uot; intrusion would be behind Spam and Spim. HCHS responded with Spit, which was the correct answer.

HCHS advanced to the next round where they faced Gates County, who had received an opening round bye. Gates led 75-55 after two rounds, but HCHS rallied to claim a 100-90 win.

That set-up a loser’s bracket match-up between Northeast and Gates County. The Northeast students were up to the challenge as they raced out to an 85-45 advantage after two rounds en route to a 115-75 victory.

Northeast moved back into the winner’s bracket to face HCHS where the Northampton County independent school faced the tall task of winning two straight matches to pull off the upset.

However, HCHS proved too stout as they used a big third round – correctly answering a pair of 30-point questions and stealing away four, 15-point responses – to win the title thanks to a 200-65 score.

The local Quiz Bowl champions were Rebecca Barket, Bryan Creviston, Justin Freeman, Jordan Harrell, Yush McCoy, Courtney Price, Catherine Parker, Neill Proctor and Corey Saunders.

Northeast Academy students laying claim to the runner-up plaque were Nathan Bennett, Chelsea Davis, Buddy Duke, Lance Jenkins, Crystal Sumner, Stacey Townsend, Alex Watt and Brittany Watt. This team was accompanied by their four advisors – Debbie Davis, Leon Dickens, Andy Jenkins and Carol Watt.

Gates County High was represented by Taylor Bundy, Chris Clark, Scarlett Cutrell, Jonathan Hare, Andrew Hobbs, Justin Plyler, Channon Smith, Adam Williams and advisor Garrett Maroney.

All answers fell under the scrutiny of a trio of judges – Dr. J. Brabban, professor of Religion & Philosophy, Chowan College; Dr. Garth Faile, Professor of Science and Mathematics, Chowan College; and Dr. Thomas Whitaker, professor of Science and Mathematics, Chowan College.

Cindy Henderson, Ahoskie Public Library, and Jackie Ward, Hertford County Public Library, served as this year’s Local Quiz Bowl coordinators.

Shawanda Bishop, Barbara Davis, Pamela Cox and Cheryl Kee handled the scorekeeping duties. Nancy Hughes was the timekeeper. Kim Sandford staffed the registration table.

The Ahoskie Rotary Club provided trophies for the Local Library Quiz Bowl winner and runner-up.

Members of the Ahoskie Junior Woman’s Club provided refreshments during a brief intermission.

Since 1980, public libraries, under the guidance of the State Library of North Carolina, have sponsored teams from area high schools in academic competition. Teams are asked questions on specific subjects such as current events, history, science, literature and the arts.

While many questions are drawn from high school curriculum, team members are encouraged to have broad knowledge in current events, popular culture and other non-curriculum related areas.