Lemont’s Mathletes Squad Wins Regionals, Headed to State

LEMONT, IL — Lemont High School’s Mathletes squad earned a berth to the 2018 Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) State Finals by winning the Joliet area regional competition on Feb. 24 at Joliet Junior College. Lemont, which won its fifth regional title in six years, will compete in the ICTM Division 3AA State Finals on Saturday, May 5, on the campus of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, LHS said.

According to the school, Lemont placed among the top three in all 10 events, which included five first-place finishes and four runner-up placements. The squad finished with a team score of 488, edging runner-up Willowbrook (464). Lemont’s team victory earned it an automatic qualification to the ICTM Division 3AA State Finals.

The school said seven competitors earned top-three individual finishes for Lemont, including junior Kirsten Kash (Algebra II), sophomore Ben Clarage (Geometry) and freshman William Gorski (Algebra I), who all placed first in their respective competitions. Seniors Anna Ford, Laura Hunter, Jana Lacanlale, Arjun Reddigari, Josh Reitz and Aaron Swenson teamed to win the Pre-Calculus Written Team competition. Clarage joined with sophomores Caroline Bukowski, Manisha Joseph, Aubrey Molitor, Jacob Pulido and Megan Zhou to capture the Geometry Written Team competition, while Gorski and freshmen Sriya Gandhi, Michael Haughey, Ryan Madera and Kelsi Padalia triumphed in the Algebra I Written Team competition.

Other winning teams included Reddigari and Reitz in the Junior/Senior 2-Person Team category, and Bukowski and Gandhi in the Freshman/Sophomore 2-Person Team competition. Kash teamed with Lucy Conway, Matthew Gasienica, Anna Goranski, Natalie Palarz and Katrina Retzke for a runner-up finish in the Algebra II Written Team competition. Goranski and Kash also were second in the Oral Team category.

The school said Ford, Goranski, Hunter, Kash, Lacanlale, Palarz, Reddigari and Retzke came together for a runner-up finish in the Junior/Senior 8-Person Team competition, while Bukowski, Gandhi, Haughey, Joseph, Madera, Molitor, Padalia and Zhou finished second in the Freshman/Sophomore 8-Person Team category. Gorski, Pulido, Swenson, senior Angelina Wilton and junior Samantha Herce were third in Calculator Team. In other individual competitions, Lacanlale and Reddigari (Pre-Calculus) and Molitor (Geometry) finished as the runners-up in their respective categories, while Madera (Algebra I) placed third.

Lemont’s Mathletes team is coached by Angela Marshall, Dardrae Breig, Abbey Scupin and Ken Suslek. From 2007-16, it finished among the state’s top 20 in its division nine times in 10 years, including 11th place finishes in 2007 and 2013.

Photo provided by Lemont High School.