University High won first place in the regional round of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl for the fifth time in six years.

Hosted by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, the annual tournament featured 20 teams from Southern California. Contestants had seconds to answer questions such as “What intermolecular force is responsible for the secondary structure of proteins?”

“Our students have an incredible depth of knowledge in each field of science,” says University High coach David Knight. “I am proud of them.”

Team members Benjamin Fan, Wendy Cao, Nathan Ouyang, Julianne Wu and Yufei Chen will compete at the national competition in April.