ORONO – In many Maine high schools, especially the smaller ones, options for science courses are not exactly bountiful, which means students at those schools have to go looking elsewhere to tickle their science bones.

Many Maine high school students were at the University of Maine on Saturday tickling their marine science bone at the 2006 Nor’Easter Bowl. The event, which featured 12 teams from seven Maine high schools, was one of 24 regional competitions throughout the nation that focused on high-schoolers’ knowledge of marine sciences.

More than a competition though, Saturday was a chance for students to learn about a field that doesn’t often make its way into their science curriculum.

“From what I saw, so many kids in Maine want to study this and learn about this,” said Brenda Zollitsch, coordinator of the Northern New England Regional National Ocean Science Bowl.

The event, in its ninth year, has come to be known as the Nor’Easter Bowl, and this year, more teams from Maine competed than in any other in recent memory, according to Zollitsch.

“I get the impression that there is the belief that Maine kids don’t believe in math and science, but there is definitely interest,” she said Sunday by telephone.

Maine schools didn’t fare particularly well – the top three teams hailed from New Hampshire and Vermont – but Janet Perry, a science teacher a Ashland High School, said the competition wasn’t about winning.

Perry, who coached two teams from the small Aroostook County school, said her students brought back an experience that she can’t offer in the classroom.

“I’m not sure about other schools, but ours can’t provide marine science class,” Perry said Sunday by telephone. “But still, I had no problem recruiting kids for this event.”

“That is the joy of teaching, to see them in a setting like this,” she added. “The school is our regular day, but when you add something like this it’s icing on the cake.”

Michael Dalton, who teaches biology and chemistry at Central High School in Corinth, agreed that schools need to take advantage of opportunities like Saturday to keep students interested in math and sciences.

“Many high schools don’t have ocean science classes. It’s rolled into a larger picture,” he said Sunday by telephone. “This was a chance to look at different aspects of science.

“These are kids that are naturally driven, they love science, they put in extra time on their own knowing that they will never technically get a grade,” he added.

Saturday’s all-day event, held at the Donald P. Corbett Business Building at the university, featured several rounds of questions related to marine and ocean sciences. The competition was facilitated and judged by UMaine faculty members and graduate students as well as volunteers from marine science programs at the University of New Hampshire, the University of New England and Maine Maritime Academy.

The event’s winners will attend the National Ocean Sciences Bowl in May in Monterrey, Calif., and received significant scholarship prizes.

Competing students also got a tour of the UMaine campus. Zollitsch said. Many of those students will wind up in Orono, whether in the ocean science field or some other discipline.

“These are going to be the future scientists, and you’re talking about some really intelligent kids,” she said.