MATH TEAM 2006

Striking a Balance

Captain
JONATHAN WYSOLOVSKI (Advanced Math MVP; ARML; Mu Alpha Theta Vice-President, State team member)

VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS
Melanie Allen
John Barnett
James Bascle
Eryn Bernardy
Sam Brotherton (Calculus MVP; ARML; GHP, State team member)
Justin Carlin
Daniel Chen (PreCal MVP)
Raymond Clunie
Jim Creager
Katie Dugan
Allyse Keel
Nayoon Kim (ARML, State team member)
Kayla Koch (Mu Alpha Theta President) Amy Kovac
Jacob Kovac
Amy Lanchester (GHP; ARML, State team member)
Julie Leber
Salman Makhani
Will Martin
Julie Matthews (Mu Alpha Theta Secretary)
Kathryn Moore
Ryan Moore
Sophia Newton
Lacy Reynolds
Steven Rouk
Britt Schneider
Tyler Sigwald
Michaela Simoes

JUNIOR VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS
Layla Bouzoubaa
Kevin Brawley
Rachael Ceciliani
Kathryn Daniel
Nika Daryooni
Josh Hayward
Jonathan Johnson
Tyler Kelly
Katie Koch (Geometry MVP)
Mei Lin
Rochelle Lobo
Bianca Marks
Kevin Masters
David McCalley (Algebra MVP)
Nikita Mehra
Justin Morris
Patti Murphy
Bijal Patel
Kunal Patel
Chris Robuck
Carmilia Todman
One of the strengths of the Rockdale Magnet Math Team is the depth of talent. Many math teams around the state seem to be carried by one or two fantastic individuals with the rest of team filled up with not-so-fantastic talent. We are different. We have a few amazing people on math team, but we have at least five times as many great people, any one of whom is capable of rising to the challenge. Put together a four-person team, and we have the ability to create multiple winning combinations of talented people. The 2005-2006 school year was no exception.

You may notice as you read through this year’s accomplishments below that the roster of attendance is quite different at each tournament. Certainly, Jonathan Wysolovski, Amy Lanchester, Sam Brotherton, and Nayoon Kim are amazing mathematical talents, but look closely and you’ll see them aided by a rotation of wonderfully adept students: James Bascle, Amy Kovac, Kayla Koch, Raymond Clunie, Daniel Chen, Lacy Reynolds, and Steven Rouk, just to name a few. This year’s team was deep, and to be able to draw upon many talents kept us competitive in an increasingly competitive tournament atmosphere (even if the class of 2005 arrogantly claimed that Math Team was “gonna die without us”).

Even this year’s JV team had depth of talent. Most were 9th graders that had never been on a math team before. But they too were mathematically gifted and showed great promise for the future of Math Team.

Although the new group of Math Team members showed great promise, sometimes it was hard to tell. After the conclusion of the Cherokee County Invitational in February, the organizers of that tournament had lots of snack left over. As we were leaving after the awards ceremony, the students were eyeing the food, when the tournament director said, “Why don’t you take some food home with you?” Judging by the reaction of the students, one would have thought they had been fasting for a fortnight! They descended upon the snack table with such ferocity that they frightened passersby. And one of them managed to sneak an entire cake onto the bus for the ride back!

One of the best trophies to receive is the unexpected one. The Georgia Tech tournament in March 2006 was a perfect example. The GT Tournament has three main components: a written multiple-choice test, ciphering, and then, after the announcement of the semi-finalists, the semi-finalists take a another proof-based test. The GT tournament is difficult and long -- including registration and awards, one spends eleven hours on the campus. The test that morning did not go well. The competitors from Rockdale as well as other schools were complaining loudly about how difficult that test was. Of the 25 questions, we discovered that answering 12 correctly was a good score! The ciphering was next -- which was a little easier -- and then lunch. After a grueling morning in which the students felt completely beaten, most (that weren’t semi-finalists) went home after lunch. The afternoon for the semi-finalists was similarly disheartening. However, those of us that stayed for the awards were in for a surprise: we were completely shocked to learn that we placed in the top 5!
LEFT: Hard at work on the test at the Georgia Tech Math Tournament, March 4, 2006. Left to right: Daniel Chen, Jim Creager
RIGHT: The Varsity team receiving the third place trophy at the Georgia Tech Math Tournament, March 4, 2006. Left to right: Jacob Kovac, Justin Carlin, Sophia Newton, Sam Brotherton
One of the things you may notice in the pictures on this page is the new attire worn by the students: Math Team hooded sweatshirts. At last year’s state tournament, Jonathan Wysolovski made Dr. Garner a bet: if they win the state tournament again, the he buys them Math Team hoodies. Well, they did win the state tournament again, and so, true to his word, Dr. Garner ordered black hoodies with the math team logo enlarged on the front with “State Champions 2004 and 2005” on the back. New T-shirts were also ordered in the same style as before, but now the back read “State Champions 2004 and 2005” as well. The hoodies were a hit, and they were worn by the team at school on a semi-regular basis.

After its cancellation last year, the Rockdale Mathematics Competition was successfully held on January 21, 2006. Once again, the top three teams per subject per division were recognized. (That is, the top three 3A Algebra II teams received a trophy, as did the top three 4A Algebra II teams, etc.) The top 15 individuals per subject were recognized as well. The teams with the highest scores and the top individual in each subject were...
Pre-Algebra: Chamblee Middle School; Karthik Narayan, Chamblee;
Algebra I: Alton C. Crews Middle School; Eric Chen, Crews;
Geometry: Cedar Shoals High School; Kyle Davis, Cedar Shoals;
Algebra II: Chamblee High School; Lillian Wang, Chamblee;
Comprehensive: Lassiter High School; Phillip Mote, Lassiter.

The most interesting aspect of the Second Annual Rockdale Math Competition was the team “Hong Kong Buffet.” Four individuals from the Georgia ARML team were interested in competing, but lacked a school to sponsor them. So, with the understanding that they would not be eligible for any team awards, they formed a team of their own. Hence, the group of Wes Brown, Fred Johnson, William Drobney, and Linda Liu called themselves “Hong Kong Buffet”!

The 2006 Captain, Jonathan Wysolovski, managed to pull off a feat in this school year that only Ben Wu had accomplished the previous school year: At every tournament he attended, Jonathan received an award. As of now, Ben and Jonathan are the only two persons ever on Math Team to do this.

Below you will find our record of placements at the few tournaments the Math Team attended that school year. Team awards are listed first, with individual awards listed after the team member’s name.

October 15, 2005, University of Georgia Mathematics Tournament, Athens.

14th place team: James Bascle, Daniel Chen, Jonathan Johnson, Nayoon Kim (32nd place), Kayla Koch, Amy Kovac, Jacob Kovac, Amy Lanchester, Lacy Reynolds, Steven Rouk, Tyler Sigwald, Jonathan Wysolovski (15th place), and special guest Mitch Costley.

October 29, 2005, Cobb County Invitational Mathematics Tournament, Marietta.

13th place JV team. Attending: Layla Bouzoubaa, Kathryn Daniel, Josh Hayward, Jonathan Johnson, Rochelle Lobo, David McCalley, Justin Morris, Patti Murphy.
5th place Varsity team. Attending: John Barnett, Sam Brotherton (16th place), Kayla Koch, Amy Lanchester, Julie Leber, Salman Makhani, Steven Rouk, Jonathan Wysolovski (6th place).

November 12, 2005, Mercer University Mathematics Tournament, Macon.

2nd place team: John Barnett, Sam Brotherton (7th place), Nayoon Kim (10th place test and 4th place ciphering), Kayla Koch, Amy Lanchester, Kathryn Moore, Ryan Moore, Jonathan Wysolovski (8th place).

December 3, 2005, Lassiter High School Mathematics Invitational, Marietta.

20th place JV team. Attending: Layla Bouzoubaa, Katie Koch, Rochelle Lobo, David McCalley, Bijal Patel, Kunal Patel, Chris Robuck, Carmilla Todman
2nd place Varsity team: James Bascle, Sam Brotherton (7th place), Nayoon Kim, Amy Kovac, Amy Lanchester, Julie Matthews, Britt Schneider, Jonathan Wysolovski (9th place).

December 10, 2005, Vestavia Hills High School Mathematics Tournament, Vestavia Hills.

10th place Algebra II team: Kevin Brawley, Kathryn Daniel, Josh Hayward, Rochello Lobo, Kevin Masters, David McCalley, Patti Murphy, Bijal Patel.
2nd place Comprehensive team: James Bascle, Sam Brotherton, Daniel Chen, Allyse Keel, Kayla Koch, Amy Kovac, Amy Lanchester, Salman Makhani, Will Martin, Julie Matthews, Steven Rouk, Michaela Simoes, Jonathan Wysolovski (15th place).

January 31, 2006, AMC.

School winner, AMC10A: Amy Kovac
School winner, AMC12A: Sam Brotherton

February 11, 2006, Cherokee County Mathematics Invitational, Canton.

7th place JV team: Layla Bouzoubaa, Rachael Ceciliani, Kathryn Daniel, Nika Daryooni, Josh Hayward, Mei Lin, Bianca Marks, Nikita Mehra, Justin Morris, Patti Murphy, Bijal Patel, and Carmilia Todman.
4th place Varsity team: Melanie Allen, Sam Brotherton (2nd place), Justin Carlin, Daniel Chen, Raymond Clunie, Jim Creager, Nayoon Kim, Amy Kovac, Jacob Kovac, Julie Leber, Will Martin, Sophia Newton, Britt Schneider, and Tyler Sigwald.

February 15, 2006, AMC.

School winner, AMC10A: Steven Rouk
School winner, AMC12A: Sam Brotherton

February 18, 2006, Armstrong Atlantic State University Mathematics Tournament, Savannah.

6th place JV team: Layla Bouzoubaa, Kevin Brawley, Kathryn Daniel, Katie Koch, Mei Lin, David McCalley (5th place), Patti Murphy, and Kunal Patel.
2nd place Varsity team: Melanie Allen, James Bascle, Eryn Bernardy, Sam Brotherton (1st place), Allyse Keel, Nayoon Kim (5th place), Kayla Koch, Amy Kovac (5th place), Jacob Kovac, Julie Leber, Salman Makhani, Julie Matthews, Kathryn Moore, Ryan Moore, Lacy Reynolds, Michaela Simoes.

February 25, 2006, Georgia Southwestern State University Mathematics Tournament, Americus.

1st place team: James Bascle, Daniel Chen, Raymond Clunie, Nayoon Kim (1st place), Salman Makhani, Sophia Newton, Jonathan Wysolovski (2nd place).

March 4, 2006, Georgia Tech Mathematics Competition, Atlanta.

3rd place team: James Bascle, Sam Brotherton, Justin Carlin, Daniel Chen, Jim Creager, Allyse Keel, Amy Kovac, Jacob Kovac, Julie Leber, Kathryn Moore, Sophia Newton, Britt Schneider, Tyler Sigwald, Jonathan Wysolovski.

March 11, 2006, Greater Atlanta Christian School Mathematics Tournament, Norcross.

5th place Geometry team: Katie Koch (Honorable Mention) and Mei Lin.
1st place Algebra II team: Kevin Brawley, Layla Bouzoubaa, Jonathan Johnson, Rochelle Lobo, David McCalley, Patti Murphy, Bijal Patel, Kunal Patel.
1st place Comprehensive team: Melanie Allen, John Barnett, Eryn Bernardy, Sam Brotherton (Honorable Mention), Justin Carlin, Daniel Chen, Jim Creager, Nayoon Kim, Kayla Koch, Amy Kovac, Jacob Kovac, Amy Lanchester, Julie Matthews, Kathryn Moore, Ryan Moore, Sophia Newton, Lacy Reynolds, Steven Rouk, Britt Schneider, Tyler Sigwald, Jonathan Wysolovski (Honorable Mention).

March 18, 2006, Junior Varsity State Mathematics Tournament, College Park.

2nd place Overall: Layla Bouzoubaa, Sam Brotherton (3rd place), Daniel Chen, Kathryn Daniel, Nayoon Kim (17th place), Amy Kovac (12th place), David McCalley, Bijal Patel, Steven Rouk.

March 25, 2006, Kell High School Mathematics Invitational, Marietta.

2nd place Varsity team: Eryn Bernardy, Sam Brotherton (8th place), Allyse Keel, Amy Kovac, Amy Lanchester, Ryan Moore, Britt Schneider, Jonathan Wysolovski (4th place).

April 29, 2006, GCTM Varsity State Mathematics Tournament, Macon.

4th place team Overall: Sam Brotherton (7th place), Nayoon Kim, Amy Lanchester, Jonathan Wysolovski (10th place).

Search