GMS MathCounts team finishes 11th in state

Courtesy photo The Greencastle Middle School MathCounts team recently finished 11th in a statewide competition at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The 2015-16 GMS team includes (front, from left) assistant coach Kristien Hamilton, Iris Mackenzie, Maieasha Rashid and Casey Crary, all sixth-graders; and back (from left) assistant coach Zach Wilkerson, Michael White, Ben Wilkerson and Connor Crary, all eighth-graders, along with coach Beth Wilkerson.

The Greencastle Middle School MathCounts team culminated its season by competing in the Indiana State MathCounts Competition Saturday, March 12 at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute.

Members of the 2015-16 GMS MathCounts state-qualifying team (Casey Crary, Connor Crary, Michael White and Ben Wilkerson) competed against 221 other state contestants, for a total of 39 teams and 69 qualifying individuals representing 48 Indiana middle schools.

The GMS team did well in the competition, placing 11th overall, with two GMS team members placing in the top 25 percent individually -- Wilkerson placed 32nd and White placed 55th.

During a MathCounts competition, students participate in three rounds of written exams: Sprint, Target and Team. The Sprint Round consists of 30 problems that the students work to solve in 40 minutes without the aid of a calculator.

The Target Round involves eight problems given to the participants in pairs with 6 minutes allotted to solve each pair of questions. During the Team Round, all four members of the team work together to solve 10 problems in 20 minutes. The latter two rounds allow the use of calculators.

At the conclusion of the three written rounds, the top 24 individuals square off on stage, in a game show- style Countdown Round.

During this round, students compete head-to-head, without calculators, and race to verbally answer questions like, "The mean of a set of n numbers is 27, and the mean of another set of 2n numbers is 30. What is the mean of a third set of 3n numbers if the mean of all 6n numbers is 32?" (Answer: 35)

The GMS MathCounts team won the opportunity to compete in the state competition by finishing second behind Honey Creek Middle School of Terre Haute in the regional Francis Vigo Chapter Competition on Feb. 6. The top three teams and the top 10 individuals from the chapter competition automatically qualified for the state competition.

At the chapter competition, all four GMS state-qualifying team members finished in the top 24. Individually, Wilkerson placed fifth, White placed sixth, Casey Crary placed 12th and Connor Crary placed 21st. Other members of the GMS MathCounts team who participated as individuals in the chapter competition on Feb. 6 were Iris Mackenzie and Maieasha Rashid.

The GMS MathCounts team was coached by Beth Wilkerson, Kristien Hamilton and Zach Wilkerson.

MathCounts is a national program that strives to engage middle school students in challenging yet fun mathematics activities. Each year over 250,000 students from all 50 states, U.S. territories, and the State of Defense Department school systems worldwide are exposed to MathCounts at the school level. Approximately 40,000 of these students participate in MathCounts chapter competitions with top finishers in both the team and individual categories earning the opportunity to advance to state-level competitions.

This year's state-level winners will compete in the National MathCounts Competition May 7-10 in Washington, D.C.