Wasatch Academy, Manti

High take firsts in annual

Snow College math contest

By Linda Petersen

Staff writer

Apr. 12, 2018

 

EPHRAIM—Local students finished strong in last week’s annual math contest at Snow College.

A total of 385 students from 24 public and private schools participated in the math contest this year on Tuesday, April 3.

Wasatch Academy won first in its division, Manti High won first in its division and many local students placed in the top 10 in their divisions.

Students compete against each other in a timed test, and the students are not allowed any calculators or aids.

In the senior division (grades 10-12), students try to answer 40 questions in two hours, and a “team” consists of the top five scorers from each school.

A team from Wasatch Academy took first place in their division of private and charter schools with a combined score of 524.

Team members swept third through eighth place. John Kim placed third with a score of 124, George Zhao fourth with 120, Wending Wang fifth scoring 111, Winnie Li sixth with 86, Brian Lyu seventh with a score of 83, and David Liu placed eighth with 78.

Manti High’s team took first place in their division (schools of 310-619 students) with a combined score of 253.

In their division (Division 3), Manti and Gunnison swept the second through eighth places, following closely behind winner Chandler Williams of South Sevier.

Manti High’s Breanna Hedelius took second place with 56 points, followed by third-place winner Ethan Morgan with 54. Korbend Cox took fifth place with 50 points, Russell Christianson scored 46 and took seventh, with Kjerstin Birch placing eighth with 42.

As second- and third-place winners in their category, Breanna and Ethan will each receive a one-year full-tuition scholarship to Snow College (worth $1,800) and a Math Jock T-shirt.

Gunnison Valley students Alexander Stewart scored 52 and Gabriel Jensen scored 49, taking fourth and sixth places respectively.

In the junior division (grades 7-9), students have 20 questions to answer in one hour.

In the junior division, in ninth grade, Eric Yang of Wasatch Academy took third place with a score of 51.

In each category, the five members of the winning team (determined by combining individual scores) and their math instructor each receive a Math Jock t-shirt.

The annual contest was started in 1977 by Bart Nelson and Ted Olson. The college’s math department has been sponsoring it ever since. The junior division of the test began in 2007.