"Lake Geneva?" Wachter Middle School eighth-grader S. Muneeb Hyder said.

It was really an answer not a question, but the way he raised his voice when he said Geneva, turned the tables on the moderator for the North Dakota National Geographic Bee on Friday at the University of Mary.

A simple "correct," from social studies teacher Corey Bohlig cleared up any uncertainty.

"Wow, " Hyder said, with a grin as he went back to his seat. The audience laughed too, as they realized it was just a guess on his part.

"It goes to show you should not say pass, but respond with an educated guess," event organizer Beverly Sandness said.

Hyder's guess was definitely an educated one. He knew Geneva, Switzerland was near the locations he was asked about in the question.

That guess put Hyder into a tiebreaker round for the championship round, where he came out victorious. He is the 2008 North Dakota National Geographic Bee champion. He will compete at the national National Geographic Bee in May in Washington, D.C.

"Iwas kind of going crazy," when he won, Hyder said. "It was cool."

He correctly answered Bay of Bengal to a second tiebreaker question in the final round. He broke into a big grin and laughed when he won, and immediately shook his competitor's hand.

The second-place winner was Connor Joseph of South Middle School in Grand Forks. Joseph automatically qualified for the championship round after answering every question in the final round correctly. He was the only student in the final round to correctly identify the name of a U.S. city he was asked about on a map. The other students correctly identified the number locating the city on the maps they were given, but gave a different name of a city within the state shown on the map.

The third-place contestant was Jonathan Rosencrans of Powers Lake Elementary School. The other contestants were Christopher Dimler of Garrison High School; Heather Sondreal of Thompson Public School; Brittney Humphrey of Grimsrud Elementary School in Bismarck; Dalton Reitz of Scranton Public Schools; Derek Arness of Discovery Middle School in Fargo; Jaazaniah Catterall of Hazen Middle School; and Charlie Coleman of Bismarck Mandan Home School Association.

Hyder is the son of Shiraz and Darlene Hyder. Their younger son Bilal Hyder, a fifth-grader at Prairie Rose, also participated in the geographic bee.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@bismarcktribune.com.)