By Andrew Lovdahl
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Saturday, April 28, 2007, The OG, news & student awards

URBANA — Uni took home sixth place in its division at today's state finals in the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics High School Math Contest. The University of Illinois hosted the competition.

The team had the same result last year, when then-sophomore Alex Zhai helped his teammates finish first in three events and won another individually.

This time around, Uni scored 668 points (compared to 673 last year).

The top 10 teams in Division 3AA were:

— Walter Payton College Prep, 1st place (875)

— Fenwick High School, 2nd place (779)

— Vernon Hills High School, 3rd place (777)

— Glenbard South High School, 4th place (744) (Last year's first-place finisher)

— Benet Academy, 5th place (720)

— UNI HIGH, 6th place (668)

— Marist High School, 7th place (643)

— Lake Forest High School, 8th place (627)

— Hinsdale South High School, 9th place (580)

— Hononegah High School, 10th place (574)

For complete team results, click here. (When you get to that page, be sure to select the appropriate division — 3AA — at the bottom left corner.)

Following is a list of high-scoring Uni students and teams.

INDIVIDUAL EVENTS

Geometry

— 5th: Richard Wang (sophomore)

Precalculus

— 4th: Alex Zhai (junior)

TEAM EVENTS

Algebra 1 Team

— 7th: Tej Chajed, Daniel Cheng, Amy Ding, Diana Liu, Daniel Wilson, Chris Yoder (freshmen)

Precalculus Team

— 4th: Ian Chen, Luke Chiang, Aria Collopy, Tomasz Kalbarczyk, Marquis Wang (seniors), Alex Zhai (junior)

Freshman/Sophomore Relay Team

— 4th: Amy Ding, Diana Liu (freshmen), Cheng Luo, Brian Wang (sophomores)

Junior/Senior Two-Person Team

— 2nd: Ethan Berl & Alex Zhai (juniors)

The ICTM Contest Committee, created in 1979, states that its mission is “to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement, encourage independent study, stimulate interest in mathematics, and provide a wholesome meeting ground for students and teachers of mathematics through academic competition.”

Competing schools are split into four divisions based on the number of students enrolled in ninth to 12th grade at the school: Division 1A (enrollment of 399 or less), Division 2A (400-999), Division 3AA (1,000-1,999), and Division 4AA (2,000 or more). Schools have the option of competing at a higher level; Uni regularly invokes such rules, and has recently been participating in Division 3AA.

Uni got to state by winning its regional competition in early March at Parkland College. The team scored 641 points, while the second-place finisher, Springfield, had 487.

This year, Uni did not place first at state in any ICTM categories; the most impressive finish came in the junior/senior two-person team event.

In that category, the Uni team of Zhai and junior Ethan Berl was originally in fourth place, but luckily, the four best junior/senior teams then got a fresh start in an eight-question round that would determine the final rankings.

According to math executive teacher Craig Russell, Uni's ICTM team sponsor, Berl and Zhai were in first place after the seventh question. Even though they could not hold the lead, they did end up in second, Uni's best showing of the day. Russell described the question round as “a real nail-biter.”

Next year's ICTM regional contest at Parkland will be held March 1, with the state finals scheduled for April 26.

[Note: Thanks to subfreshman Adam Joseph, who alerted us to a mistake in the list of winners, which has since been corrected.]

RELATED

— 2006 Gargoyle coverage: Uni students win ICTM regional math contest

— 2006 Gargoyle coverage: Math students finish sixth in state at ICTM contest

— 2007 Gargoyle coverage: ICTM team dominates regional contest, heads to state

— External link: Contest homepage

— External link: ICTM homepage