The Wyoming Regional High School Science Bowl. It sounds so… academic.

And it is, partially. Five students form a team, and 15 teams from different schools around the state compete for the title by answering questions that even "Jeopardy!" champions would avoid.

Questions are pulled from categories like physics, astronomy, biology and chemistry, and the winning team gets an all-expenses-paid trip to the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C.

"These kids are so smart, you wouldn't believe it," said Kari Skalicky, regional coordinator for the event at Frontier Middle School.

But between head-to-head scientific combat rounds, students were confined to the cafeteria to eat cookies and play cards. Some competitors were nervous, nibbling slowly at turkey sandwiches and staring at nothing as they envisioned the next round. Others seemed to forget they were even involved in competition, talking on their cell phones and taunting one another.

The Star Valley High team seemed particularly rambunctious. After all, they were far from home. They knew that if they lost in the first half of the competition, they were going home early, and the questions had been anything but easy.

"Impossible," said Analisa Stephens, a senior and three-time Science Bowl attendee. "But we haven't had any computer questions yet, thank God."

"They're all over the place," said Aaron Daniels, one of the team's coaches. "Most of the questions aren't high school, they're college questions or above. It's pretty high-level stuff."

At one point, Star Valley had won four rounds and lost two. David Clark, a senior, was the only team member who seemed certain that they'd be one of the eight teams to move on in the competition.

Then again, he was the 17-year-old who built a 52-inch freestanding tower out of a single sheet of paper and 30 centimeters of tape during one of the day's free-time activities. Maybe he didn't have much to worry about.

They've practiced hard - like a team in any sport, they have drills and scrimmages. But instead of stretching hamstrings or arms, they're working the left side of their brains. And that work is paying off.

"We beat one team 0-72, but they were a really nice team," Stephens said.

Everyone on the Star Valley team has his or her strengths - Tyler Barnes is the math kid, so he's in charge of answering physics questions. Noel Putnam is the random fact guy, so when a question about the largest rodent in North America came up (answer: North American giant beaver), the team turned to him.

"Noel is like a walking encyclopedia," Daniels said. "He knows stuff I didn't know people knew."

And, random all-knowing kid that he seemingly is, Putnam entertained the group with a card trick - "a perfect example of inertia" - while they waited.

A man walked up to the microphone in the cafeteria and began calling team names. These were the people who would continue in the competition. A team from Kelly Walsh High was called, and a few other teams. The excitable Star Valley table became silent until the school was called.

They exploded with excitement and advanced to the next competition, congratulating themselves and each other. Coach Daniels could only smile.