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— The state's top geography whiz kid grew up with a talking globe and used maps to help his mother navigate when she took him and his sisters on day trips.

But Michael Borecki, a seventh-grader from Middlesex Middle School in Darien, did it all without maps or globes Friday when he won the Connecticut Geographic Bee for the second year in a row.

Michael, who is the sixth Darien student to win the bee since it began in 1989, appeared calm and collected as he expertly made his way through about 20 questions, missing only two, to clinch top place. He won a check for $100, a complete digital set of National Geographic magazines and an all-expenses-paid trip toWashington, D.C., for the national competition on May 24-25.

"There's a lot of pressure," Michael said after his win, "but it's fun, especially when we go down to Washington, D.C."

About 100 students in fourth through eighth grades competed in the bee, which was held at Central Connecticut State University and is part of a national competition organized by the National Geographic Society. The students who participated in Friday's contest had won their school bee and taken a qualifying test.

Michael's mother, Yvette Borecki, said that her son has been interested in maps and geography since he was a small child. He first entered the geography bee when he was in fourth grade and started preparing with Barbara Ivey, the school librarian at Middlesex Middle School and also a fan of geography.

Ivey said that she and Michael have been working together about three or four afternoons a week for the past year to get ready for Friday's competition.

"We pretty much talked about every country in the world," Ivey said, taking them one by one, covering culture, mountain ranges, exports, politics and natural resources.

William DeGrazia, an adjunct geography professor at Central who helps organize the event, said, "It's not just maps. It's the culture of countries, languages, vegetation, physical and human environments. … Geography is a broad-based subject."

In the first round, Michael glided through all eight questions, answering each correctly. He knew that Uruguay was not landlocked, while Botswana and Paraguay are. And he knew that the Canary Islands belong to Spain.

The first round seemed easier than last year, Michael said later. The finalist round for the top 10 competitors was harder and more pressure-filled. Brad Drazen, the NBC Connecticut News anchor who moderated, told the contestants that they had to remember to breathe.

He could have given the parents in the audience the same advice.

Christine Young of Granby, whose son Shane was one of the 10 finalists, said she thought there was more pressure on the parents than the kids.

"I was more of a nervous wreck than my son," who she said was quite mellow. "I was sitting there, my stomach was all scrunched up."

One question stumped Michael: The sport of ulama is popular today in the state of Sinaloa in what country? Michael thought it might be Indonesia, but it was Mexico.

At that point, all of the other contestants had also missed a single question — miss two and you're out. Michael later said that he had been worried, but not too worried.

The finalists were winnowed down to three: Michael Borecki; Katherine Overstrum, an eighth-grader from Wallingford; and Rayhan Asif, a fifth-grader from New Fairfield. Drazen asked the contestants: "You good? Need oxygen?"

A few more questions, including one on rivers that produce hydroelectric power in a country on the North Atlantic Ocean and another on lapis lazuli mining near the border of Tajikistan.

Finally, it was the championship round, and it was between Michael and Rayhan.

Drazen asked the first question: "Name the Baltic country that replaced the kroon with the euro in early 2011, becoming the most recent country to join the eurozone."

Michael's answer: Lithuania. Rayhan's: Finland. Both were wrong. The correct answer: Estonia.

The next question: What body of water connects the Gulf of Oman with the Persian Gulf?

This time only Michael answered correctly: the Strait of Hormuz.

And finally: What landlocked African country harvests timber and floats it down the Ubangi River to transportation facilities in the Democratic Republic of Congo?

Again, only Michael got it right: the Central African Republic.

"It was a relief when it was over," Michael said. "It was kind of nerve-wracking."