SEABROOK — Seventh-grader Anthony Gagne is Seabrook Middle School’s winner of the 2018 National Geographic Geography Bee, with sixth-grade student David Johonnett the runner up.

Anthony, 13, pulled ahead of 12-year-old David in the championship round by knowing that the Seikan Tunnel connects the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido to Japan’s largest island of Honshu. Up to that point, the two were neck and neck in the championship round of questions.

The two students spent most of Thursday, Jan. 25, competing against dozens of their schoolmates. The preliminary round of 36 students took place early in the day in the school library and winnowed down the competitors to 10 finalists. The final 10 then competed in the afternoon in the school auditorium before the entire student body.

The Geo Bee was organized by Seabrook Middle School eighth-grade social studies teacher Jeff McNally with the help of many of his colleagues. This is the fifth year SMS has taken part in the National Geographic Geography Bee, he said. From the reaction of the student body on Thursday, it’s a very popular program.

The questions, read by McNally, covered the entire globe and were anything but easy. There were questions specifically to the United States, but also about all the continents and oceans, including a map reading segment devoted to the country’s highway system.

Both Anthony and David said they prepared for the bee by taking the online National Geographic practice test, as well as reading and studying about geography. Both clearly enjoy the subject and participated in the Geo Bee in years past. Anthony was a finalist in both the fifth and sixth grade, and David was a finalist in the fifth-grade competition last year.

The son of Nancy and David Gagne, Anthony is hoping to study worldwide history and cultures from the distant past.

“I’d like to be an archeologist,” he said. “I’d like to specialize in Egypt.”

For David, the son of Christopher and Katie Johonnett, it’s still too early to decide on a career path, but he does know what he’d like to pursue in his leisure time.

“I’d really like to travel,” David said. “First, probably to Europe.”

Anthony’s time answering geography questions wasn’t over on Jan. 25, according to McNally. He was scheduled to take the National Geographic Geography Bee state qualifying test on Jan. 26, the result of which he’ll learn on March 2, McNally said. If Anthony’s test score qualifies him, he’ll proceed to the state level of the Geo Bee, scheduled for April 6.

The other eight finalists were: Kolby Blaisdell, Cole Talas, Hunter Chase, Marikate Morin, Saul Delgado, Jack Marquis, Torin Rackliffe and Nahiba Chowdhurry.