Last Saturday, April 18th, several of ACP’s students from Math Club participated in an online Math League competition on Zoom. Originally meant to take place in Tucson at a local high school, the competition was changed to take place on the Internet due to social distancing. However, it still continued to be a load of fun for the participating students, one of whom is our own Kristin Myer (check out her articles, they’re awesome!).

Kristin herself placed seventh in the junior age category, while also placing second in the power category with her team. The students were only two points away from beating Basis Chandler in bracket, which consists of a length proof-writing event.

Other placings are as follows:

9th Grade
3rd Place: Stevie Ortiz
4th Place: Dean Brasen
5th Place: Raine Huang

10th Grade
7th Place: Blake Enwiller
18th Place: Eli Martin
21st Place: Andrew Kang

11th Grade
7th Place: Kristin Myer

12th Grade
1st Place: Taman Truong
17th Place: Gina Brasen

Team Round
Team 1: Taman Truong, Blake Enwiller, Raine Huang, Dean Brasen, Stevie Ortiz

• (6th Place – 50/100 points)

Team 2: Andrew Kang, Kristin Myer, Eli Martin, Gina Brasen

• (7th Place – 50/100 points)

Power Round
Team 1: Taman Truong, Blake Enwiller, Stevie Ortiz, Dean Brasen, Kristin Myer, Andrew Kang

• (2nd Place – 56/100)

Relay Round
Team 1: Taman Truong, Blake Enwiller, Raine Huang

•  (12th Place – 7 points)

Team 2: Dean Brasen, Stevie Ortiz, Andrew Kang

• (9th Place – 10 points)

Team 3: Kristin Myer, Gina Brasen, Eli Martin

• (21st Place – 2 points)

Sweepstakes
2nd Place: AZ College Prep

• 198 points

I asked Kristin for a quick overview of the entire competition, and here’s what she had to say:

Q: What was the competition like?

A: The competition was officially called the Math League Arizona State Championship. Each student that qualified for State had to place high enough at one of the smaller qualifying tournaments held throughout the year. Competing online was definitely a new experience for all of the competitors, but it went smoothly for the most part. We all connected to a Zoom call, and a group of chaperones ensured that students followed the rules of the competition (no internet use, notes, or outside help allowed!). The actual competition was made up of a Power round, Sprint round, Target round, Team round, and Relay round, which ended up taking about four hours in total.

ACP-Erie placed second based on Sweepstakes scores, which is the sum of the top six individual scores.

Q: How did it feel when you found out you placed in your separate categories?

A: I was really happy when I heard the final results! I’m looking forward to competing at the National Championship, which will be held online some time in June. Since ACP-Erie placed second as a school in the Sweepstakes, all nine of our school’s participants have advanced to the next level (Dean Brasen, Gina Brasen, Blake Enwiller, Raine Huang, Andrew Kanguwu, Eli Martin, Stevie Ortiz, Taman Truong, and me).

Q: What do each of the categories mean?

A: The Sprint round was a 30 question test that we had one hour to complete. After the Sprint round was the Target round, which consisted of four sets of two questions; competitors had ten minutes per question set. The Team round was made up of a set of ten challenging questions in which teams of up to six competitors had 20 minutes to work together to figure out the solutions. Finally, the Relay round was five sets of three questions, and teams of three had to work together to solve each set within three minutes. Between each of the four rounds, we had a ten minute break, which I spent eating food, since there was no scheduled break for lunch.

Q: How long did the competition last? How long did you prepare for it?

A: This competition began at 10:30 A.M. and was over around 2:30 P.M. I had to set a bunch of alarms to wake up for it, since if I followed my normal sleep schedule on Saturday mornings, I would still be asleep until at least 12 P.M. In the weeks leading up to the state championship, Math Club has been having online meetings on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and some Fridays for an hour and a half each session to practice similar problems. We spent a lot of time preparing leading up to the competition, but it ended up paying off!

Q: What did you do to prepare for it?

A: Throughout the school year, Math Club has been holding weekly practices to prepare for our competitions. We usually spend practices studying specific theorems and strategies for solving math problems more quickly and accurately.

Q: How can you join math club?

A: If you would like to join math club, feel free to stop by the Math Club booth at next year’s club fair or talk with your math teacher. We’re always welcoming new members.

Thank you to Kristin for taking the time to answering these questions for us! Congratulations to all of the Math League Arizona State Championship participants on a job well done. Go Knights!