“Solve for r if 8!/[r!(8-r)!]=56”

“Three!,” the middle school math league members shout out within one second of the announcer asking the question.

“Correct,” says the announcer.

With just seven middle school math league members, Cannon Falls has still managed to stay in the top 2 teams in the Wasioja North division. Those members include Owen Edstrom of 6th grade, Trenton Jandris, Sanskar Bhatka, Ryan Schlichting, and Nick Engebretsen of 7th grade, and Lindy Edstrom and Graham Pearson of 8th grade. The team practices once a week on Monday mornings from December to February.

Pearson states, “I thought we had a pretty decent amount of practice time considering we do a worksheet, then go over it.”

Every two weeks, the team travels to Kenyon to compete at the meets with five neighboring towns. There are two individual tests and one team test, with six people from their own school working together. They are then put in a room with 20 minutes to complete ten complex math problems.

“I like the team test because then people can correct me if I am wrong,” Ryan Schlichting comments.

The last math meet was a success for Cannon Falls. The final scores were added up for each person and team. Awards came soon after and Graham Pearson won the first place individual award by a landslide! Pearson had a total of 115 points while second place had 76 points total. He is ranked 37th in 7th-8th graders from MN for the 2014-2015 math league season.

“When I received them, it kind of was a reminder that hard work pays off. It always feels good to beat schools in the HVL conference, too,” Pearson reflects.

Winning second place once again, was the outcome for Cannon Falls. Although, their rival, Northfield, was not too far out of reach.

“I believe that we can beat Northfield in the future with more training,” Schlichting says.

The Cannon Falls team of six, which switched out a couple members each time, is ranked 68th out of 214 teams in the state of MN for the 2014-2015 season with a total of 451 points.

After the season finished, the team went to the MathCounts competition in Rochester. There were a few individual tests and one team test. Cannon Falls had one member in the top 16, Graham Pearson, who went on to the lightning round and stayed in until his 2nd try.

When asked how he feels when he walks up for the lightning round, he replied, “Going on a stage is always difficult because it gives me a nervous rush and my legs start shaking. I just tried to focus as best I could and hope that the questions they asked were ones I understood.”

In the future, the middle school math league team will look for new members and more fun times. With two 8th graders leaving to go to high school, there will be just 5 members left. The math team is a very fun learning experience that will leave you smarter than your classmates!