Middle school math league wrapped up the season on January 6 of 2020 with a bang.

The Junior High Math League has more mathletes this year: 15 middle schoolers compared to last year’s six. One other change to the team this year was the start date. The first meet was in September as opposed to last year’s start date which was in November. Due to conflicts with other activities, there were only five people present for the Cannon Falls team in the September meet. Despite low numbers, the group ended the meet a few points ahead of Northfield maroon, which, in turn, boosted the team’s confidence. 

At the second meet which took place in October, the team score dropped,allowing Northfield Maroon to finish on top by a couple of points. After their second meet, all 15 students had their third meet. Even though the team started to gain more points, Northfield won, but by a much tighter margin. Like the third meet, Cannon Falls fell short at the fourth meet  by six points.

Finally, on the day of the fifth and final meet, everyone was anxious to see who won. Northfield Gold got 306 points in all the meets, getting them in 4th place, Kenyon-Wanamingo got 3rd, earning 335 points, and Northfield Maroon got 2nd earning 586 points. Cannon Falls Junior High Math League team earned 592 points.When asked his favorite memory of the memorable season, team coach, Bucky Lindow revealed, “My favorite memory of 2019-2020 was the ongoing battle with Northfield.” One of the mathletes, Randi Hanson, commented on the win stating, “I was happy and I felt we deserved it.” 

After the team award,  individual awards were given to the top ten participants.  Individuals who were close to the top 10 include: Ashton Wieck (14th), Randi Hanson(11th), and Caiden Huebsch (11th). Three team members made the top ten. Angel Zheng earned seventh, while  Sara Auger and Thomas Coyle (whose point totals were extremely close) got second and first. 

Cannon Falls is ranked 10th in the state, which is impressive seeing that more than 100 teams compete each year. Math League for the middle schoolers might be over, but people who were in the top six  of the team get to go to Mathcount. This is a different competition but more competitive. They would be competing with other people that are geniuses in math from this state.

It is apparent the Junior High Math League had a successful year and the students will continue putting their math skills to the test.