Sycamore returned to hosting the Central Indiana Chapter MATHCOUNTS competition on Saturday, with 128 mathletes back in the building competing for the opportunity to qualify for the State Competition. Sycamore School has been the host site since 2009, with the previous two years of the competition having been held virtually.
MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide competition consisting of 3 levels. The Chapter Competitions are held in February, followed by the state competitions in March. The Top four students from each state are then selected to attend the National MATHCOUNTS Competition in May.
Sycamore had a strong showing on Saturday, with all students placing in the top 40%, including 10 of the top 19 individual rankings. Shayen Maun (7th Grade) led Sycamore by finishing 5th place overall. Gavin Sigua (7th), Evan Ting (7th), and Sameer Zaidi (8th) each received the same score and finished in 7th, 8th, and 11th place respectively after tie-breakers.
They were followed by Krishna Una (7th) and Derek Ai (8th), who also tied and ended up in 12th and 14th place. The 16th - 19th spots were also occupied by Sycamore students Joyce Tang (7), Chloe Sigua (7th), Nathan Zhang (8th), and Akhil Jois (8th).
Kelvin Yan was the only 6th grader to earn a spot on the Sycamore team and he finished in 26th place followed by Rohan Parikh (7th) in 45th. Based on the qualification rules, Sycamore had 11 students immediately qualify for the state competition with a 12th student having a good opportunity to earn an at-large bid in a couple of weeks.
The official Sycamore team placed 3rd overall and was made up of Shayen Maun, Akhil Jois, Gavin Sigua, and Kelvin Yan.
Defending State Champion Edward Chen took first place overall with Carmel Middle School finishing in first place in the team competition.
The state competition is scheduled to take place on March 11 at Purdue University.