Lawrence High and Free State High teams were named to the top 16 at the 2008-2009 Quest academic competition at Washburn University on Dec. 6.

Both teams will advance to the televised finals, which will air from February through May on public television station KTWU, Sunflower Broadband Channel 11. A champion will be named in May.

The contest allows teams of high school students from across Kansas to compete against one another in answering questions on topics such as art, literature, history, math and science. More than 80 high school teams competed.

Other area schools that took part include Oskaloosa High, Perry-Lecompton High and Tonganoxie High. Oskaloosa took first place in the Class 3A category. None of those teams made the cutoff for the televised finals.

Members of the LHS team are Helen Gent, junior; Robert Knight, senior; Patrick Magnuson, junior; Jake Mather, sophomore; Alex Henriquez, sophomore; and Andres Ramos, senior. Their coach is Ron Callaway.

Members of the Free State team are: Ruth Byers, senior; Dravid Joseph, junior; Hannah Kapp-Klote, senior; Alex Kong, sophomore; Tess Murray, senior; and Betty Zhang, senior. Their coach is Oather Strawderman.