Lincoln, Neb., Dec. 16, 2003 -- Lincoln East High School's Tim Carrell took top individual honors and helped East to first place in the Class A team Math Bowl competition in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's 14th annual Math Day last month.
East's Math Bowl team of Carrell, Stephen Anthony and Jeff Watton beat out Omaha Westside for the top spot in Class A, while East students claimed six of the top 10 spots in the individual competition.
The Omaha Duchesne team of Katie Hildreth, Bridget Leuschen and Robin Wees beat Plattsmouth in the Class B Math Bowl final; the Omaha Brownell-Talbot team of Rahul Agarwal, Jacob Bredthauer, Jeremy Pace and Laura Stroy beat Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca in Class C; and the Lincoln Parkview Christian team of Ben Grone, Melissa Lanik, Tara Miller, Sarah Rolofson and Josh Sawyer beat Dodge in the Class D final.
Nick Stremlau of Omaha Skutt finished second to Carrell in the individual competition, followed by Hannah Breckbill of Lincoln Northeast in third; Anthony and Anish Mitra of East and Craig Reeson of Omaha Creighton Prep in a three-way tie for fourth; Matt Fenwick of Westside in seventh; Dan Williams of East in eighth; Yue Wu of East in ninth; and Alex Churchill of East in 10th.
The top 10 individuals divided $34,000 in four-year scholarships to UNL, with Carrell's first-place award worth $8,000. The scholarships are generously supported by the Gallup Organization.
This year's Math Day hosted 1,330 students from 103 Nebraska schools, up from 562 students from 68 schools at the first Math Day in 1990.
The purpose of Math Day is to promote the mathematical sciences and UNL. It consists of one individual and two team mathematics competitions, information about majors and departments, career information, and recreational mathematical activities. All students start with a multiple-choice, preliminary exam called PROBE I (Problems Requiring Original and Brilliant Effort). The top 50 in Probe I move on to take the now famous essay exam called PROBE II.
The first team competition is determined by averaging the top scores from each school on PROBE I. The second is a double-elimination tournament pitting three-member teams against each other. The team competitions are divided into four categories based on enrollment, with trophies given to the top two teams in each class. All the questions assume only two years of high school algebra and one year of geometry. However, the answers to PROBE II questions require the creativity and originality expected from only the very best students.
A summary of Math Day results follows.
Math Bowl Runner-up team members: Omaha Westside (Class A), Fenwick, Joe Hejkal and Brandon Tomlinson; Plattsmouth (B), Aaron Becker, Brenden Boyle and Josh Smith; Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca (C), Dustin Giddings, Wade Janssen, Alisha Lierman and Ryan Post; Dodge (D), Maggie Blankenau, Jim Hartline, Nick Kaup, Scott Ruskamp and Adam Wiese.
PROBE I team competition (maximum possible team score is 100):
Class A: 1, Lincoln East 87.4; 2, Creighton Prep 74.2; 3, Westside 68; 4, Lincoln Southeast 65; 5, Omaha North 62.4.
Class B: 1, Norris 62; 2, Grand Island Central Catholic 56.5; 3, Elkhorn Mount Michael 53.25; 4, Kearney Catholic 51.75; 5, Plattsmouth 47.5.
Class C: 1, Brownell-Talbot 51; 2, Nebraska Evangelical Lutheran 50.33; 3, Yutan 46.33; 4, Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca 45.33; 5, Tri County 43.33.
Class D: 1, Nemaha Valley 47.67; 2, Kenesaw 47.33; 3, Dodge 46.33; 4, College View Academy 44.67; 5, Lewiston 40.33.
PROBE I top three female students: 1, Jill Westcott, Omaha North; 2, Breckbill, Lincoln Northeast; 3, Sally Hudson, Lincoln East.
PROBE I top three male students: 1, Carrell, Lincoln East; 2, Anthony, Lincoln East; 3, Mitra, Lincoln East.
CONTACTS: Gordon Woodward, Professor, Mathematics, (402) 472-7239; and
Lori Mueller, Math Day Coordinator, (402) 47-4319
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Posted by Tom Simons, Office of University Communications
Phone: (402) 472-8514, Fax: (402) 472-7825