BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor Auditorium floor was filled with almost 1,000 students, the competition was intense and there was a lot on the line, but you could hear a protractor drop.
Basketballs gave way to calculators and scoreboards were replaced by scoresheets as Tuesday’s daylong 36th annual Maine State Math Meet brought 93 Maine high school teams and almost 950 students under the same roof to compete for numerical superiority.
That distinction, for the second straight year, went to the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone, which tallied the highest total score of 743 to win the overall and Class A titles.
“We started off with very few missed questions and were pretty consistent the whole day,” said MSSM senior Thomas Murphy.
While many teams featured bright T-shirts, some with catchy slogans, puns and creative mottos, MSSM went with the formal look as team members wore suits and ties or dresses.
“I wore a suit last year. No one else did, but I just felt like being formal,” said senior Klaas Pruiksma. “This year, the whole team did it.”
Bangor finished as Class A runner-up for the second straight year with 610 points.
“We’ve had a banner every year since 2005, either winning regular season or this meet, but we came in second in both this year, so we’re a little bummed,” said Bangor coach Carl Robbins. “But when you’re going against THE charter school in the state, if they’re our ultimate competition, that says a lot about the job these kids have done.”
“Bangor is one of our strongest competitors and this year we just barely won the season title by three points over them,” said MSSM head coach Pete Pedersen. “They won the state meet three years ago and we’ve won the last two.”
The other top team finishes came from Class B winner Fryeburg Academy with 727 points, Class C winner Foxcroft Academy with 529, and Class D champ Hebron Academy with 635.
Individual honors for seniors and the overall best score of the day were shared by seniors Ethan DiNinno of Cape Elizabeth, Yunrui “Re” Li of Thornton Academy in Saco, and Xinyue “Elaine” Deng of Fryeburg. All three scored 72.
The junior individual champ was Ove Hou from Washington Academy of East Machias with a 65. Cape Elizabeth’s Deven Roberts scored 67 to win the sophomore title and Bangor eighth-grader Conor Thompson won the freshman crown with a 67.
“I love this. Math is my favorite subject,” said Thompson, who is also a member of his school’s chess and French clubs. “I’d like to be a mathematician and maybe either teach it or do research.”
The puns and double entendres on several teams’ T-shirts — such as “Sweet Po-Theta Pi” (Easton), “Calcoholics Anonymous” (Monmouth Academy), “Math puns are the first sine of madness” (Greely High School of Cumberland Center), and “Math team angles of approach: What’s your sine? … I’ll be the supplement to your angle” and eight other math pick-up lines (Erskine Academy of South China) — showed that students can be great at math and still have a great sense of humor.
“Most of these kids are not geeks,” said Barbara Solomon, Maine Association of Math Leagues vice president. “They do everything in their high schools. A lot of them are athletes. … They are also tremendously witty and so much fun to be around.”
“It’s mostly the kids. This is for the kids,” said Brewer math teacher and team coach Angela Szucs. “They come here to have fun, to do some math — which for some people is fun.”
Is that even fair?
Yes, it is fair. Every student in Maine has a chance to go to MSSM. All they have to do is apply and do the tests. Way to go MSSM!! The best high school in the state.
It’s called a meritocracy..each according to their talent and desire; many famous public school systems are designed to advance the ‘best’ students into specialized ‘technical’ schools. NYC has dozens for business, performing arts, science, etc. and then the best of these get preferential admission to specialized public colleges, ie. Pratt, Baruch, etc.
Great to read about the Math competition. My daughters were on their high school math teams.
Kudos to all the high school students who particpated and their coaches!
THESE are the kids to make a big deal about and be most proud of, and yes, many of them “do it all”, mine are in sports, band, other school clubs, hold down paying jobs AND are on the math team and do well in all their academics, and I know many of the kids are doing the same. THESE are the kids who are going to get into college with merit scholarships and succeed in life. I have nothing against sports (like I said, my kids do those too), but there is way too much emphasis and accolades for them, and how many Maine kids get full athletic scholarships, let alone go into sports professionally?
P.S. My kids do not go to MSSM, and my congrat’s to their team.
Note that some of the students were also athletes.
Congrats and way to go! To all of you!
Almost all from private academies or Maine’s first and only charter school. Nature or nuture?
Both.
The top two finishers were public schools. Math and Science is a magnet school not a charter school. Huge difference.
Congrats to all, students and mentors.
One gripe about the article. It would have nice to list all schools particpating and their placement within their division. Hopefully, that will be in the Weekly.