Lemont's Mathletes Squad Again Wins Regional, Earns Berth to ICTM State Finals

Lemont High School’s Mathletes squad earned a berth to the 2015 Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics (ICTM) State Finals by winning the Joliet area regional competition on February 28 at Joliet Junior College. Lemont, which topped runner-up Providence Catholic by more than 150 points, will compete in the ICTM Division 3AA State Finals on Saturday, May 2, on the campus of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Lemont placed among the top three in all 10 events, which included six first-place finishes and two runner-up placements. The squad finished with a team score of 514, outscoring runner-up Providence Catholic (361), Willowbrook (310), Romeoville (271) and Yorkville (251), which rounded out the top five. Lemont’s regional score ranked 12th among more than 70 Division 3AA teams from throughout the state, and its team victory earned it an automatic qualification to the ICTM Division 3AA State Finals.

Sophomores Natasha Joseph and Chris Paulius and freshman Arjun Reddigari led the way for Lemont, as each earned three first-place medals in regional competition. Joseph and Paulius tied for first individually in the Geometry competition. They both were part of the victorious Geometry Written Team, along with sophomores Megan Atherton, Faraz Longi, Shannon O’Donnell and James Sliwa; and also competed on the winning Freshman/Sophomore 8-Person Team with Longi, Reddigari, Sliwa, and freshmen Emma Bozue, Jana Lacanlale and Ian Hartl.

In addition to being part of the winning Freshman/Sophomore 8-Person Team, Reddigari also won the Algebra I individual competition, and teamed with Lacanlale and freshmen Anna Ford, Sean Haughey, Alex Paulius and Josh Reitz to capture the Algebra I Written Team event.

Lemont won three additional team competitions. Seniors Katie Atherton, Simon Batistich, Radomir Fugiel, Gary Lin, Emma O’Leary and Daniel Wang won the Pre-Calculus Written Team event; Lin, Alex Paulius, senior Audrey Rex, junior Sarah O’Donnell and sophomore Jacob Kecki were triumphant in the Calculator Team competition; and Wang and junior Matt Filar captured the Junior/Senior 2-Person Team event.

The Algebra II Written Team of Filar, Sarah O’Donnell and juniors Spenser Bailey, Misbah Chagpar, Jakub Krzeptowski-Mucha and Matt Retzke was second in its category, as was the tandem of Reddigari and Longi in the Freshman/Sophomore 2-Person Team competition.

In other individual competitions, Wang was second in Pre-Calculus, and Longi (Geometry), Reitz (Algebra I), Retzke (Algebra II) and Katie Atherton (Pre-Calculus) all finished third within their respective categories.

Lemont’s Mathletes team is coached by Angela Marshall, Tim Norman and Ken Suslek. It has finished among the state’s top 20 in its division seven times in eight years, including 11th-place finishes in 2007 and 2013. Last year, Lemont placed among the top 20 in nine of 12 state finals categories and finished 13th overall.