High School Math Team Hopes to Add New Trophy

“It’s probably one of the best teams Barrington has ever had.”

High school math teacher Bob Marley knows of what he speaks. And it isn’t a high school athletics squad.

Marley is singing the praises of the high school math team, also known as the Rhode Island state champion for the second year in a row. The team moves into New England regional competition on Friday, April 29.

Marley is in his sixth year of coaching the team, which finished Rhode Island Math League regular-season competition at a perfect 16-0.  They were the top team with scores of 307 for Team A and 196 for Team B. 

Barrington won the Margaret A. Conneely Award for finishing in first place in the regular season.  Junior Stephen Lamontagne received the A. A. Bennett Book Award for the highest score by an individual in the regular season.

Other award recipients were: Jack Liang for top sophomore in the state, Olivia Justynksi for fourth-best individual, Pierre Karashchuk for seventh-best individual, Cassidy Laidlaw for ninth-best individual in the state, and Lamontagne for top junior and top overall individual in the state for this year.

The top ten teams in the state competed for the state title. Barrington came in first with 146 points, well ahead of second-place Wheeler School with 119 points, and Bishop Hendricken and Cranston West, which tied for third place with 82 points. Lamontagne and freshman Laidlaw received perfect scores at the competition.

Students competed in six individual rounds, a relay round, and a team round. Barrington won the state title for the second year in a row and the 11th in the last 13 years. That makes 11 state titles in the 45-year history of the competition.

Now the team has its sights set on the New England Math League Championship. The top six competitors on Barrington’s 25-member team will be taking the trip to Canton High School in Massachusetts. They are Laidlaw, Liang, Karashchuk, Lamontagne, Justynski and senior Matthew Holmes.

Barrington will compete with the top teams from all over New England, Marley said. Barrington finished eighth in this competition last year.

 “Our best finish ever,” he said. “We were the second best public school in New England, behind Lexington High School in Massachusetts.”

Marley expects the math team to do even better in the regional competition this year. 

 “We’re very excited right now and hoping to finish in the top three,” he said.