WASHINGTON (AP) -- Gaining confidence as he nailed questions about obscure island chains, bodies of water, global trade and culture, 12-year-old Sathwik Karnik cruised to victory Wednesday in the 2013 National Geographic Bee.
To clinch the title, Sathwik correctly named Chimborazo as the mountain in Ecuador that represents the farthest point from the Earth's center. Chimborazo is farther from the center than Mount Everest because the Earth bulges at the equator.
Sathwik, of Plainville, Mass., got all five questions right in his one-on-one duel with the runner-up, 13-year-old Conrad Oberhaus of Lincolnshire, Ill.
Sathwik pushed ahead of Conrad on the second question, correctly naming Baotou as the largest city in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which is home to one of the world's largest deposits of rare-earth elements.