ST. MARY'S STUDENTS PLACE THIRD IN STATE MATH CONTEST

For five students at St. Mary's grade school, it all adds up.

The team of seventh- and eighth-graders finished third in the MathCounts' state contest earlier this month in Columbia.

Team member SreeVamsi Adusumilli finished second in the state, the highest finish for a Southeast Missouri student since the MathCounts program began a dozen years ago.

As the second-place winner, the 12-year-old will be one of four Missouri students to participate in the national MathCounts competition April 28 in Washington.

Other members of the MathCounts team are Zachary LeGrand, Ryan Watin, Michael Wehner and alternate Jason Garner.

"I was really excited," Adusumilli said. "I didn't think it was possible." Adusumilli, an eighth-grader, was second from among 130 competitors.

Last year, he finished 15th.

Adusumilli loves math, particularly algebra and trigonometry.

"I just like to try to figure things out," he said, adding that math comes easy for him. "My dad is real good at math and my grandfather is a math teacher."

Adusumilli and the other members of St. Mary's team also studied hard this school year, working on their math skills for hours after school.

"There were nights where we would stay up until 1 o'clock working," he said.

The team often studied after school at the Global Trading store of math teacher and MathCounts coach Avelina Lichtenegger.

The coach was excited about the team's success.

"I get attached to the kids," she said as the team practiced its math skills Friday at the school. "Sometimes they call me mom."

Lichtenegger said being on the MathCounts team is hard work.

"You don't win just by accident," she said. "You have to prepare for it."

Principal Carol Strattman said it is amazing what the students know in terms of math.

Strattman, Lichtenegger, Adusumilli and his parents, Dr. Rao and Lakhsmi Adusumilli, will travel to Washington for the national contest, which will feature some 200 students.

An estimated 3 million students have been involved in MathCounts since 1983. This year alone, 350,000 students participated in the program.

Some 17,000 volunteers work with the MathCounts program, which is designed to foster students' interest in math.

National MathCounts sponsors are the National Society of Professional Engineers, CNA Insurance Companies, General Motors Foundation, Intel Foundation, Texas Instruments Inc., National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.