Honey Creek 7th @ Indiana MathCounts
All good things must come to an end.
That certainly was the case for the Honey Creek Middle School team in this year’s Indiana MATHCOUNTS competition, conducted Saturday at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Honey Creek, a perennial state titlist contender and the defending champion, failed to place among the top six award-winning teams for the first time since 1996. Officially, the team finished seventh.
“The effort was there from the students, but we were up against some superior competition this year,” emphasized veteran Honey Creek MATHCOUNTS Coach Bob Fischer. “We tried our best. At the end of the day, you have to congratulate the other teams. Performances by our past teams have helped improve math throughout the state. We set a high bar for ourselves and other teams.”
Eighth grader Krishan Kumar led Honey Creek with a ninth place individual finish — being rewarded with a full scholarship to Purdue University for being among the top 10 competitors.
Classmate Ryan Chung placed 14th and qualified for the Countdown Round, a game show-type competition that had the top 24 finishers showcasing their problem-solving skills.
Other members of Honey Creek’s team were eighth grader Birchell Eversole and seventh grader Ben Brubaker. Competing as individual qualifiers were eighth grader Kush Patel, seventh graders Michael Crowell and Dalton Mitchell, and sixth grader Jared Anklam.
Otter Creek and Greencastle middle schools also represented the Wabash Valley in the Indiana competition. Eighth graders making up Otter Creek’s team were Adam Blackburn, C.J. Brooks, Nathan Lewis-Cole and Jacob Wheatley.
“The students just enjoy problem solving and mathematics, which, as a math teacher, I love to see,” said Otter Creek MATHCOUNTS Coach Chris Stanisz.
“I don’t know what they will do without MATHCOUNTS practice next week. I suspect that it won’t be long before they’ll be coming in and asking for problems to answer. That’s what is so great about MATHCOUNTS; it gets students excited about coming to school and working hard at solving problems.”
Greencastle had one of the youngest teams in the competition with one eighth grader, Hannah Gellman; one seventh grader, Beth Ann Hansen; and two sixth graders, Tyler Long and Zach Wilkerson. The team was coached by volunteer Peter Crary.
The Indiana MATHCOUNTS competition had 196 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students from 46 middle schools showcasing their mathematics skills. Students participated in three rounds of competition: Sprint, testing quickness to solve problems; Target, testing problem-solving skills; and Team, testing teamwork abilities.
Sycamore School, from Indianapolis, unseeded Honey Creek as team champion this year. The team had four of the top eight individual finishers. Creekside Middle School of Carmel was second, followed by West Lafayette Junior High School, Klondike Middle School of West Lafayette, Riverside Middle School of Fishers and Schmucker Middle School of Mishawaka.
Eighth grader Mark Selke of Klondike earned top individual honors for the second consecutive year — receiving a $10,000 scholarship from Rose-Hulman for being the top male finisher. He had a perfect score in the sprint round of the competition. Claudia Huang of the Sycamore School received a $10,000 Rose-Hulman scholarship for being the top female contestant (eighth place).
Other top students were Yushi Homma of Sycamore School, second; Jerry Ma of West Lafayette Junior High School, third; and David Liang of Creekside, fourth. That group will now represent Indiana at the National MATHCOUNTS competition at Walt Disney World in Orlando during early May. Selke, Homma and Liang were members of the state team as seventh graders — and placed sixth.
“Indiana is taking a very talented team of problem solvers to the nationals,” stated Fischer, who will serve as the team’s co-coach.
MATHCOUNTS is sponsored by the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers, Raytheon and Rose-Hulman to promote mathematics among today’s teenagers to pave the way for tomorrow’s mathematicians, engineers and scientists. Patricia Behrens of Eli Lilly and Company and Gary Staats of Zurich Services-North America were the competition coordinators for ISPE. Indiana State University Mathematics Professor Henjin Chi was the chief judge. Rose-Hulman Mathematics Professor Elton Graves coordinated activities for Rose-Hulman, being assisted by professors Bill Eccles, John Rickert, Steve Galinaitis and Cara Brooks, and Mathematics Department Secretary Jodi Daugherty. Members of Rose-Hulman Pi Mu Epsilon mathematics society and other mathematics students helped as competition graders.
Local engineer Denis Radecki, coordinator of the Wabash Valley regional competition, was recognized for 25 years of service to the Indiana MATHCOUNTS competition and ISPE.
Team results (scores not released) — 1. Sycamore School, Indianapolis; 2. Creekside Middle School, Carmel; 3. West Lafayette Junior High School; 4. Klondike Middle School, West Lafayette; 5. Riverside Middle School, Fishers; 6. Schmucker Middle School, Mishawaka
Top 10 individuals (scores not released) — 1. Mark Selke, Klondike Middle School; 2. Yushi Homma, Sycamore School; 3. Jerry Ma, West Lafayette Junior High School; 4. David Liang, Creekside Middle School; 5. Beilin Li, West Lafayette Junior High School; 6. Patrick Tan, Sycamore School; 7. Chad Qian, Sycamore School; 8. Claudia Huang, Sycamore School; 9. Krishan Kumar, Honey Creek Middle School;
Top countdown round finishers — 1. Mark Selke, Klondike Middle School, West Lafayette; 2. Jerry Ma, West Lafayette Junior High School