Scottsdale middle school finishes in top 8 of National Science Bowl

PHOENIX — Another Arizona-based school made it to the Elite Eight, but this time it’s in the classroom.

Saaketh Narayan, Vilina Mehta, Vishesh Gupta, Nishant Kannan and Gokul Karthikeyan of BASIS Scottsdale Middle School advanced to the Round of Eight in the Department of Energy’s 2014 National Science Bowl — an academic tournament featuring 5,200 students from all 50 states.

However, the five students’ collective push to a national championship ended there Sunday, as they were one of four schools to get knocked out of the competition in the quarterfinal round.

Although they failed to reach Monday’s final at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., BASIS Scottsdale receives $1,000 to go towards its science department for being a top 8 finalist.