MathCounts winners move to state level

Kennedy Middle School’s MathCounts team is headed to the state championships next month after winning a regional math competition Saturday. From the left are teacher/coach Trina Terlizzi, Zach Klein, Alexander Karius, Stephen Sheets and Ben Duncan. Staff photo by Rob Novit.

Kennedy Middle School edged St. Mary Help of Christians for first place in the regional MathCounts contest Saturday, but both teams qualified for the state championships next month.

St. Mary eighth-grader Payton Carter pulled off a double win at the event - taking first in the individual competition that's based on a written exam performance. In the afternoon, Carter also won the informal and popular Countdown contest, which is played in front parents and friends.

The winning Kennedy squad is composed of Zachary Klein, Stephen Sheets, Alexander Karius and Ben Duncan.

Two other students, Schofield Middle School's Jeffrey Chen and Tannor Byrd of Merriwether Middle School, also qualified for the state championships as individuals. Chen finished second overall, and Byrd was sixth - the highest performers not on either of the state-qualifying teams.

Schofield took third in team play and Merriwether was fourth. The next three finishers in the Countdown contest were Ivey Li of Schofield and St. Mary's Adam Rabin and Reid DeMass. The other teams included Aiken Area Home Educators, JET Middle School, Leavelle McCampbell Middle School, Mead Hall, New Ellenton Middle School and North Augusta Middle School.

The team results are based on scores on two test components - the individual exams and the team competitions.

Terlizzi and her Kennedy students were more than a little stunned by the regional victory. With a busy schedule for both teachers and students this year, Terlizzi only organized the team recently, and practice time was limited.

"I said, 'Let's just try to four of them and see how we do,'" Terlizzi said. "It was a winning combination, I think. It was fun to see them challenge themselves. These are different kinds of questions than they get in class, and this stretches their brains more than what they normally get."

All four Kennedy mathletes finished in the top 19, with Klein and Karius finishing third and fourth. St. Mary actually had five students in the top 13 - Carter, Reid DeMass (5), Ashlee Kay (8), Adam Rabin (11) and Max Serkiz (13). Rabin was not on the team and was playing as an individual.

"We've got 11 pretty good solid kids on the team this year," said St. Mary coach Bonnie Martin. "I'm very pleased for them."

Not surprisingly, Carter said he enjoy math.

"It's very exciting, although there's a lot more pressure in the Countdown than in the tests," he said.

Other St. Mary team members include Hagan Dyches, Ross Bullington, Vincent Ylagen, Liana Ngoyen, Jared DeMass and Austin Bell.

Others in the top 19 (top 25 percent) were Ivey Li of Schofield (7), Stephen Sheets of Kennedy (9), Ethan Pifer of Leavelle McCampbell Middle School (10), Hannah McFall of Aiken Area Home Educators (12), Ashley Milton of Merriwether (14), Khala Becker of JET Middle School (15), Scott Sherman of Merriwether (16), Charlie Ryan of North Augusta Middle School (17), Austin Harper of Merriwether (18) and Ben Duncan of Kennedy (19).

The regional sponsors were Aiken Technical College and the Aiken chapter of the S.C. Society of Professional Engineers.

"I'm always amazed at the math ability of these young people and the courage they have when everyone's watching and listening to what they're gong to say," said ATC President Dr. Susan Winsor.

She told all of the students that they are part of the solution to the need in the future for young people who are prepared in math and science.

Overall, said event coordinator Jeff Pike, the students were more capable than those in the last several years.

The winning teams "work together as teams very well," he said. "It suggests that at the state level, they can get some placement as a team, which hasn't happened before."