York Junior Ioan Draganov Earns Fifth Place at State ICTM Contest

by Dan Hall, York Community High School math team coach

York High School junior Ioan Draganov finished 5th overall individually in the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) State Math Contest last Saturday, May 2. Statewide, 3,230 students from 300 schools competed in the finals, which were held at the University of Illinois in Champaign. Schools at the competition were divided into four divisions based on the size of schools competing. The York High School Math Team competed in the largest division, qualifying for the competition by winning their regional competition against seven local high schools in February. This was the second straight year the entire York Math Team has qualified for the ICTM state meet.

As a junior, Ioan’s 5th place finish was the highest in the history of York High School. He has participated on the math team each of his three years at York. After qualifying and competing for Chicago’s All-Star math team last year, he committed himself to math practice, giving up swimming and instead focusing on Advanced Algebra topics. His efforts paid off last Saturday when he answered 19 of the 20 questions correctly on his individual contest. He missed only one complicated question involving the difference of radicals over algebraic expressions.

Led by Ioan’s high score the Junior Team also placed 5th, racking up 71 out of a possible 80 points. The team consisted of Lucas Gough, 24th; Eric Comings, 26th; Brennan McGovern, 39th; Brandon Parr, 72nd; and Claire Niewara, 113th. York’s Advanced Algebra team claimed the first top five finish in school history. Although thrilled at the achievement, the group began planning to improve for next year on the bus home.

The York team as a group finished in 17th place. The team also received top 100 finishes from freshmen Anshul Shah, 88th; sophomores Brian Strauch, 44th and Collin Czech, 54th; and seniors Amy Strauch, 86th and Kanchi Shah 86th; and Hope Kaliski, 98th. The team is coached by York math teachers Serena Briggs, Dan Hall and Linda Lahti.

Photo

Front row (L to R): Kanchi Shah and Amy StrauchSecond row (L to R): Brianna Wagner, Francesca Sciaccotta, Marc Backas and Hope KaliskiThird row (L to R): Linda Lahti (coach), Abby Gundrum, Natalie Hradil, Neil Wary, Hannah Borrows, Anita Wary, Siva Sreedhar and Dan SussmanFourth row (L to R): Serena Briggs (coach), Dan Hall (coach), Claire Niewiera, Eric Comings, Juan Vega, Jack Chlystek, Molly O’Halloran, Jolie Gundrum, Emmett Hannigan, Matt Dardick, Kevin Rachwalski, Sam Rafac and Anshul ShahLast row (L to R): Matt Schlitter, Sehe Tinfang, Brian Strauch, Ioan Draganov, Breenan McGovern, Collin Czech, Lucas Gough, Luke Videckis, Jack Anderson and Brandon Parr

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