On Monday, October 21 the Math Team took a trip up to Belleville to continue the SWIC series. After multiple practice tests, early dinner at Chick-Fil-A, and a stretching session, the team was prepared to take on round three of four. Before the first test Emily Spiller (11) reminded herself that “No matter if I win or lose, I know I’m gonna play sad country music on the bus ride home and that keeps me hyped.”

This round brought excitement for all the grades as freshmen Fox Connor earned seventh place with 11.5 points and Cameryn Champion got third place with 17.5 points. The sophomores were short one person this week as Alyssa Stallman was out sick. They didn’t let this stop them as Logan Nitzsche earned second place with 23.25 points and Lauren Johnson grabbed first place with 30.5 points. For juniors, Jaden Lake earned eighth place with 25.75 points and Kelsey King earned first place and a “How do they learn this?!” from the crowd with her 39.5 points. For seniors, Jillian Dix earned sixth place with 32 points, Jake Baumgarte grabbed second with 36.5 points, and Gavin McCluskie earned first place with 38.5 points. In a separate division but still notable, a Carbondale team member managed to get a perfect 50 on the individual test. The top four-person team this round was the team consisting of McCluskie, Lake, Nitzsche, and Champion. Together they earned first place with four points out of ten possible. The team of Baumgarte, King, Johnson, and Connor also earned four points but only one team from each school is allowed the opportunity to place and the ribbon-winners correctly answered more difficult problems. 

After an excellent performance, coaches Mrs. Nagrodski and Mr. Harlow were really pleased. “I am very happy with where we finished today. We almost did place all 11 people who came to the contest and those who didn’t had strong scores too,” Harlow commented. Both coaches and all Math Team members are excited for more celebratory Cold Stone and the last round of the SWIC series on November 4. Looking forward to this last round Harlow stated “I am cautiously optimistic. We set ourselves up over the first three weeks very nicely for a good finish, but the job is not yet complete. We need one more good week to seal the deal.” Senior Maria Camarato looked back on her past years with Math Team while saying “I feel as if we’ve had a really good run. All of our seniors have done an amazing job the past three/four years, and this year we have no plans to disappoint. We’re gonna live up to it. I have a lot of faith in our seniors and my teammates.” 

The Math Team has much to look forward to as they plan their approach to the last round of the SWIC series in early November. Until they pack their calculators in their bags for that contest, they’ll be using them in class and for practices.