1. The Adirondack Mountains are found in which state - Connecticut or New York?

2. Which river runs between Arizona and California before entering Mexico - the Platte River or Colorado River?

3. Karachi and Lahore, both cities with populations greater than 5 million, are located in which South Asian country?

Scratching your heads? Well, eight students from San Mateo County would have an easier time.

They took on such questions and reached the state-level National Geographic Bee contest Friday in Sacramento.

They were Oliver Knitter from Hilldale School in Daly City, Nicolas Kugel from Nueva School in Hillsborough, Andrew MacMillen from Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, Samuel Falkenhagen from La Entrada Middle School in Menlo Park, Will James from Central Middle School in San Carlos, Richard Adelstein from Borel Middle School in San Mateo, John Richards from St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day School in San Mateo and Daniel Menche from Grace Lutheran School in San Mateo.

They had a chance to move on to the national contest next month in Washington, D.C., and compete for the grand prize of a $25,000 college scholarship.

They didn’t quite make the nationals, but it was still a great effort by all of them.

The following students with how they finished in the state contest are headed to the championship round:

1st place: Nikhil Desai, Newark

2nd place: Kirklann Lau, Newbury Park

3rd place: Aaron Miller, Healdsburg

4th place: Narayan Gopinathan, La Jolla

5th place: Andrew Lessig, Poway

6th place: Zachary Strom, Los Altos

7th place tie: Anthony Tokman, San Diego, and Naveed Chowdhury, San Jose

9th place tie: Zachary Jones, Fountain Valley, and Imran Mahmood, San Jose

Oh, and here are the answers to the questions above:

1. New York

2. Colorado River

3. Pakistan