LOCAL TEAMS WIN FIRST THREE SPOTS IN MATH CONTEST

St. Mary Cathedral School placed first in the chapter level of the 12th annual Mathcounts competition.

Central Junior High finished second and St. Vincent de Paul third. All three teams advanced to state competition Saturday in Columbia.

In the individual competition, St. Mary captured three of the top five awards. For the second year, Sree Vamsi Adusimilli of St. Mary placed first. Other top finishers were: Jonathan Anderson of Central Junior High, second; Cecilia Kuntz of St. Vincent, third; Ryan Watin of St. Mary, fourth; and Michael Wehner of St. Mary, fifth.

Members of the St. Mary team include: Adusumilli, Watin, Wehner and Zachary LeGrand. Jason Garner is the team alternate. Avelina Lichtenegger coaches the team.

Members of the Cape Junior High team are Jonathan Anderson, Akiko Hirao, Ben Roeger, and Dongyang Zhang. They are coached by Shelby Shell.

St. Vincent's team members are: Kuntz, Joe Essner, Erik Stidham and Stephanie Miller. The alternate is Jean Stoverink. The team is coached by Virginia Sander.

Mathcounts is a nationwide coaching program and a series of competitions designed to stimulate student interest in mathematics. The chapter level of the competition was held Feb. 25 in Sikeston.