Cooperative Review

Member newsletter for Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative

SMECO held 30th regional MATHCOUNTS competition

Balcony view of MATHCOUNTS teams at tablesEach year, more than 500 regional competitions are held in middle schools across the country. In 2024, your cooperative held the 30th annual regional MATHCOUNTS Competition at Calvert High School.

The competition features rounds of mathematics problems to challenge students one-on-one and as teams over the course of the three-hour event.

Winners of the Southern Maryland chapter competition will compete in the statewide contest at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The top four individual competitors from each state competition receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the national competition in Washington, D.C., in May.

Highlights of the 2024 Regional Competition in Southern Maryland

  • Held February 3, 2024
  • >150 middle schoolers competed
  • 18 schools represented

INDIVIDUAL

The individual portion of the competition has a sprint and a target round. Winners are determined by the highest combined scores from the two rounds.

one plus twosix minutesSprint round: Students complete a 30-question test

Target round: Students have four sets of math problems and six minutes to complete each set of two questions.

FIRST: Paul Blachek, Piccowaxen Middle School
SECOND: Kathryn Torgesen, Chesapeake Public Charter School

COUNTDOWN ROUND

The top 12 scorers overall finish the competition by facing each other in the countdown round.

  • A single-elimination bracket-based tournament
  • Students respond verbally to questions within seconds

FIRST: Mason Hall, Leonardtown Middle School
SECOND: Zach Greer, Father Andrew White School

From left: Mason Hall and Zach Greer.

Individual competition. Paul Blachek from Piccowaxen Middle School placed first in the individual round and Kathryn Torgesen from Chesapeake Public Charter School placed second: From left are coach Jennifer Rowland, co-coach Deborah Simmons, Blachek, Torgesen, and coach Taren Long.

From left: coach Jennifer Rowland, co-coach Deborah Simmons, Blachek, Torgesen, and coach Taren Long.

TEAM

Teams of four answer 10 questions in 20 minutes.

First place team: Northern Middle School, Calvert County From left, Jacob Byun, Julio Castillo, coach Kathy Dempster, Zac Gingue, and Reed Noltemeyer.

FIRST PLACE: Northern Middle School

From left, Jacob Byun, Julio Castillo, coach Kathy Dempster, Zac Gingue, and Reed Noltemeyer

SECOND PLACE: Piccowaxen Middle School

From left, coach Jennifer Rowland, Paul Blachek, Kai Scott, Marcellus White, Drake Scott, and co-coach Deborah Simmons

THIRD PLACE: Leonardtown Middle School

From left, Mason Hall, Addison Owen, coach Christy Orthner, Elliot Orthner, and Kamilla Moore