The Cannon Falls Middle School Math League’s season has come to an end this year, but it left behind a great result by ending up in first place. The coach of Math League, Bucky Lindow, stated, “I was very impressed with our mathletes’ love for the subject, and desire to learn more. Not only were the participants strong as individuals, but also strong as a team.“ The Junior High Math League team is made up of 8 members: Thomas Coyle, William Zheng, Cameron Addington, Charles Fick, Luke Hernke, Morgan Jacobson, Luke Huseth, and Cindy Zheng. 

This year, math league was similar to last year, but in a more virtual way. They participated in competitions online at different times for each school. They also had zoom practice meetings instead of the usual in-school practice meetings. After every meeting, there would be a google slide that showed the categories that the next meet will be hitting at, like geometry and algebra. Each practice meeting spends a lot of time on a google slide that covers the categories. Lindow would show how to do some questions on the presentation and give an example question so the competitors can have a better understanding. 

During the meets, it was separated into 3 rounds. The first 2 rounds are the individual rounds and the last round is the team round. The first round would start and they would have a certain amount of time to do that round. Calculators and help from things and people are not allowed. After the first round, there would be a break time, where the competitors could go and take a sip of water, stretch, or use the bathroom. Then the second round starts, with the same rules and with a break after that round too. Finally, the last round starts; the last round is the team round. The group is only allowed 6 people per team. In the group, one person would be the recorder. The recorder assigns their teammates questions that they are comfortable with and takes charge of typing in the answers. Thomas was the recorder for this year’s middle school math league team. The individual round would be 10 minutes each while the team round would be 20 minutes. After the three rounds, the meet is over, and the scores would be emailed to the coaches moments later.

The overall score for this year’s middle school math league team has been recorded. Thomas Coyle placed first, with a score of 128. William Zheng placed sixth, with a score of 58. Cameron Addington was in ninth place, with a score of 48. Charles Fick and Luke Hernke both placed fourteenth with a score of 42. Finally, Cindy Zheng placed 22, with a score of 36. The top five school teams, in this order, were Cannon Falls, Pine Island, Twin Bluff, Kenyon-Wanamingo, and Zumbrota-Mazeppa.

Thomas Coyle said, “I was always looking forward to Mondays because it meant I got to learn something new about math.” They had a fun time learning new math and simply just being part of the team.