At this year’s annual 2018 State MathCounts Competition in Columbia, Missouri, 160 of the best middle school math students in the state converged. Ladue Middle School sent seven students to the event, all of whom finished in the top 26! In the overall competition, no other school in the state cracked the Top 5, because all of those positions were taken by LMS students:
1st) Will Bender
2nd) Anthony Wang
3rd) Nicole Li
4th) Sam Chen
5th) Iris Zhou
16th) Richie Jiang
26th) Aditya Kondepudi
In the head-to-head, single-elimination Countdown Round, LMS students placed in the following order (remember, this is in competition with all other state contestants):
1st) Sam Chen
2nd) Anthony Wang
3rd) Will Bender
4th) Nicole Li
Teams also competed at the State competition, and the 4-person LMS Team placed 1st. The members of the team were:
Will Bender
Sam Chen
Richie Jiang
Nicole Li
As the top four math contestants in the state, Will Bender, Anthony Wang, Nicole Li and Sam Chen will represent the state of Missouri at the National MathCounts competition in Washington, D.C. in May.
LMS dominated the competition this year at state, and this is due in large part to the weekly work with math contestants by math teacher Nancy Chambers, who offers students throughout the year opportunities to improve their math skills. Nancy also coordinates high school students to assist as coaches so that middle school students can learn from the successes of the students who preceded them.