MathCounts team takes third, student takes fourth in state

Seventh-grader Owen Hill can calculate success.

His ability to add it all up led him to a fourth place finish in the state MathCounts competition last month at the University of Missouri-Rolla, the highest ranking for a Cape Girardeau Middle School student in at least a decade.

As a result, the 12-year-old will be on the four-student state team that will compete in the national MathCounts competition May 11 through 14 in Arlington, Va.

He also earned a $2,000 engineering scholarship to the University of Missouri-Columbia or UMR.

Hill also celebrated team success as he, Josh Wen, Keaton Karlinsey and Adam LeGrand took third place in the state.

The March 25 competition drew 44 middle- and junior-high school teams from around the state.

MathCounts is a program of math contests sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

"I just like it," said Hill of solving equations. "It just takes a lot of practice more than anything."

Wen also enjoyed the competition. "I get a sense of pride in doing it," he said.

Math teacher Mary LeGrand said she coached her MathCounts students -- including her son -- before school to get ready for the state competition. "These boys are awfully bright," she said.