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South Jordan Journal

Utah Mathcounts State Competition

Mar 27, 2015 09:18AM ● By Ty Gorton
The Utah Mathcounts State competition was held in Salt Lake Community College on March 7th where 150 top Mathletes ranging from 6th to 8th grade from all over the state participated. After the written round, top 10 participants are selected for the Countdown Round where tough math problems are projected on a screen and mathletes have 45secs to buzz in to reveal answers. Based on this, top 4 Mathletes are selected to represent Utah at the National Mathcounts Competition in Boston, Massachusetts in May. 

The top 4 individuals in ranking are Tarun Kumar Martheswaran (6th grade), Alex Cheng (8th grade), Alan Zhao (8th grade) and Nathan Fang (8th grade). All these students are from Midvale Middle School. 

Tarun Kumar who is the youngest in the team took first place at the District level and then first place at the Regional level before winning the State championship. He mentioned that hard work and persistence are key in winning these competitions. He also mentioned that, "Seeing my sister, Tanisha compete in Mathcounts and representing Utah two years in a row was a huge motivational factor in wanting to compete. I also owe my success to the Kumon Math program that has given me a very strong foundation and speed " 

Tarun Kumar says that he needs to keep working hard to keep up with his  Math skills and prepare for the National competition which is just around the corner. He added that, “Participating in these competitions has given me a taste of success and a never ending love for Math. It's a great feeling to be able to excel at something you're passionate about.”

About MATHCOUNTS

MATHCOUNTS® is a non-profit national math enrichment, coaching and competition program that promotes middle school mathematics achievement in every U.S. state and territory. MATHCOUNTS offers teachers, kids and parents free materials to encourage math enrichment and prepare students for a high-tech future that will require mathematics-related skills to achieve success. Materials and information are available at www.mathcounts.org.