Amador Valley Math Team Places First at Local Math Competition!

PLEASANTON, CA – December 17, 2011 marked Amador Valley’s third year hosting a regional math competition, the Northern California Championships Qualifying Meet. Thirty-six Amador Valley Math Team students participated in this prestigious competition against mathletes around the Bay Area, a region home to some of the strongest math students in the United States.

Amador started hosting this regional competition in 2009, when interest in mathematics around Pleasanton soared. Students participate in two individual rounds, known as the Sprint and Target rounds, which lasts around two hours total. Then, students form a team of six to participate in a team round, and finally divide into two groups of three to participate in the relay round, a round where individuals rely on each other for receiving the correct answer for an entire group.

Students from Amador Valley High School and inncoming Amador students from Harvest Park Middle School represented AV Math Team.

Before the competition started, competitors chatted in the hallway in front of the math building, while math team coaches checked in their teams. Within minutes of 8:00 AM, when registration started, the hallway flooded with people. In addition to Bay Area students, students came in from Contra Costa and as far as Reno. Students enjoyed their time talking before the competition, because once the first round started, it was all about deriving the correct answer. After every test, students discussed the problems with each other; these math competitions are not easy, and usually the highest scorer wouldn’t even be near a perfect score. Conversations transitioned from the intense comparisons for answers in sprint to the playful anecdotes about passing back answers in the relay round.

After all the rounds were finished and the lunch break was over, the award ceremony began. Amador Valley saw its top competitors receive top awards at the competition; Rick Huang, a 9th grader, received 1st place in the 9th grade division with a score of 170 out of a possible 200. Brian Shimanuki, a 10th grader, received 3rd place in the 10th grade division with a score of 170 out of a possible 200, and finally, Eugene Chen, another 10th grader, received 2nd place in the 10th grade division with a score of 172 out of 200. Additionally, Rahul Kulkarni received 4th place in the 12th grade division with a score of 100, and Joey Pereira received 3rd place in the same division with a score of 110. Finally, the Amador Valley team consisting of Eugene Chen (10), Brian Shimanuki (10), Rick Huang (9), Jerry Li (10), Ian Zhou (10), and Christine Xu (10) won the team championship award, besting the second place team by over 30 points.

AV Math Team is extremely proud of its top team, which netted first place for the school in the competition. To Pleasanton’s pride, Foothill High School placed second, with Lynbrook placing third. Pleasanton is definitely home to some of the top mathletes in the Bay Area!