Math Day 2006 Results

The 17th Annual UNL Math Day was held on Thursday, November 9, 2006, at the UNL city campus Union. Opening ceremonies began at 8:00 a.m. in the Lied Center for Performing Arts with the Welcome Address by Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Juan Franco. Math Day 1990 hosted 562 students from 68 Nebraska high schools. This year Math Day hosted 1,347 students from 97 Nebraska high schools. In the afternoon Award Ceremony, Professor John Meakin, Chair of the Mathematics Department, presented UNL scholarships totaling $34,000 to the top 10 students in the PROBE II competition.

The purpose of Math Day is to promote the mathematical sciences and UNL. It consists of two individual and two team mathematics competitions, information about majors and departments, career information and recreational mathematical activities. All students start with a multiple choice, preliminary exam called PROBE I (Problems Requiring Original and Brilliant Effort). The top 3 females and males receive awards. The top 50 students move on to take the now famous essay exam called PROBE II. The top 10 on PROBE II are awarded a total of $34,000 in 4-year scholarships to UNL. The scholarships are generously supported by the Dean H. and Floreen G. Eastman Memorial Fund for Mathematics, the College of Engineering and UNL. The first team competition is determined by averaging the top scores from each school on PROBE I. The second is a double elimination tournament pitting 3-member teams against each other (up to two alternates per team allowed). The team competitions are divided into smallest, small, medium and large school categories with trophies given to the top two teams in each. All the questions assume only two years high school algebra and one year geometry. However the answers to PROBE II questions require the creativity and originality that we expect from only the very best students.

Math Bowl Tournament

Class A

1. Lincoln East: Alex Churchill, Jim Hao, Alan Xu
2. Lincoln Pius X: Rio Kim, Ben Kotopka, James Morin, Matthew Shea

Class B

1. Seward: Matthew Honeycott, Kevin Jerger, Laramie Kelley, Antoine Love, Liz Thrailkill
2. Norris: Alex Baruth, Andrew Keralis, Kyle Lococo, Shane Lowe

Class C

1. Mt. Michael: Han-Bin Im, Dae-Hoo Kim, Sam Lathrop, Jacob Pflug, Luke Weitkemper
2. Creek Valley: Lyle Calvert, Sam Dailey, Timothy Kinoshita, McKenzie Steger, Sam Rose

Class D

1. Sterling: Katrina Keebler, Kharisa Salberg, Mitchell Trauernicht
2. Pope John XXIII: Jessica Bartak, Dan Borer, Mikayla Brune, Matthew Dwyer, Jordan Engle

PROBE I-Team Competition

(Maximum possible team score is 100; Team members listed for 1st and 2nd place.)

Class A

1. Lincoln East (97.8): Alex Churchill, Brady Gilg, Adam Pillard, Adrian Draney, Jim Hao
2. Omaha Westside (97): Emily Sergel, William Thoreson, Alex Estes, Eric Lawson, Grace Lyden
3. Creighton Prep (92.2)
4. Omaha North (92)
5. Lincoln Southwest (90.2)

Class B

1. Duchesne (85.5): Bethanie Griffin, Nora Kovar, Catherine Tran, Candace Benedix
2. Seward (84.25): Matthew Honeycutt, Kevin Jerger, Jake Weber, Elizabeth Thrailkill
3. Norris (73.75)
4. Auburn (69.75)
5. Lakeview (69)

Class C

1. Mt. Michael (96.33): Sam Lathrop, Hanbin Im, Hyeonkyu Nho
2. Brownell-Talbot (89): Jacob Bredthauer, Jessica Holland, Raphael Cherney
3. Grand Island Central Catholic (82)
4. Southern Valley (72.67)
5. Weeping Water (72.33)

Class D

1. College View Academy (77.33): Ben Origas, David Lopez, Krystal Ellis
2. Nebraska Evangelical Lutheran (71): Seth Davies, Thomas Schroeder, Katie Sloan
3. Pope John XXIII (66.67)
4. Sterling (64.33)
5. Kenesaw (63)

PROBE I-Individual Competition

Top 3 (score out of 100 points, school)

Females

1st Emily Sergel (Westside), 2nd Bethanie Griffin (Duchesne Academy), 2nd Grace Lyden (Westside), 2nd Phuong Nguyen (Lincoln Northeast) (3-way tie for 2nd place).

Males

1st Augusto Alonso (Creighton Prep), 1st Alex Churchill (Lincoln East), 1st Brady Gilg (Lincoln East), 1st Benjamin Kotopka (Pius X), 1st Jack Zhang (Lincoln Southwest) (5-way tie for 1st).

PROBE II (Scholarship Competition)