Maui High School wins 2018 Aloha Bowl

The 2018 Aloha Bowl championship team from Maui High included (from right) Michael Wong, Quinton Wong, Laney Flanagan, One Jae Lee and Zain Jabbar. Their advisor was Ed Ginoza.

A five-member Maui High School team captured the Aloha Bowl title Saturday on Oahu and earned the right to represent Hawaii in the National Ocean Sciences Bowl in Colorado in April. The Hawaii Sea Grant program and the Consortium for Ocean Leadership, which runs the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, and sponsors supported the 2018 Aloha Bowl.

The Maui High A team included seniors Laney Flanagan, captain; One Jae Lee and Zain Jabbar; and freshmen Michael and Quinton Wong. The team was coached by Ed Ginoza and aided by Greg Jones, a marine science teacher at Maui High, who will take over as coach next year.

The Maui team bested NESI, a group of home-schoolers from Oahu, in the finals to win the “Aloha Bowl” on Saturday at UH-Manoa. There were 10 public and private school teams in the competition, a quiz-bowl style academic competition.

The theme of the tournament was “Our Ocean Shaping our Weather,” and students were presented questions on the ocean, including the history of oceanography, the chemistry of the ocean and the life of the animals in the ocean. Questions also covered the laws governing the oceans.

Maui High, long a powerhouse in the state Ocean Sciences Bowl, won the right to compete in the national competition April 19-21 in Boulder, Colo. Each member of the winning team received a $200 Apple gift card.

Read more in The Maui News.