Youth from National Road Church of Christ in Wheeling participate in Sunday’s Miami Valley Bible Bowl hosted in Wheeling.

WHEELING — When a child answered a Bible Bowl question correctly the sound of cheers and clapping echoed throughout the sanctuary inside National Road Church of Christ in Wheeling on Sunday.

Youth from the local church were among the dozens of children from Ohio and West Virginia churches participating in the Miami Valley Bible Bowl, hosted this year at National Road Church of Christ.

Saturday’s competition was multiple choice, but Sunday’s event included teams answering questions in Jeopardy style by buzzing in first with their answer.

This year’s questions were about the books of Judge and Ruth. The children have been preparing for the quiz bowl for months. Winners received trophies and medals.

Between 40 and 50 volunteers helped the church get ready to host the bowl.

“It’s absolutely a blessing to see so many Christians in one spot,” parishioner Jane Kalonik said. “Just sharing and studying — that’s what we’re all about. We’re really reaching out to people to let them know that this does exist.”

Kalonik noted it has been nice to catch up with people she has not seen in years.

“This is phenomenal. … It’s been nice to see the gifts that every member has that can contribute to the whole outcome,” she said.

She added that it was nice for everyone to see how wonderful West Virginia is.

“It was really smooth considering how many people we had,” she said of the event.

Church member Sean Cronin said the church has participated in the bowl for the past six years at various churches in Ohio and West Virginia. This was the first year his church hosted the competition that started 40 years ago.

There were 37 teams representing 13 different churches.