Omaha Westside, Lincoln East's Tim Carrell top UNL Math Day

Tim Carrell of Lincoln East won top individual honors while Omaha Westside won the Class A Math Bowl team competition in the 15th annual Math Day Nov. 11 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Carrell's win in a field of 1,306 students earned him an $8,000 scholarship from UNL. The second- through fifth-place finishers each won $4,000 scholarships: Jill Westcott of Omaha North, Adam Karnik of Omaha Creighton Prep, Matt Fenwick of Westside and Craig Reeson of Creighton Prep. The sixth- through 10th-place finishers - Tianlu Yuan of Creighton Prep, Alex Churchill of Lincoln East, Hannah Breckbill of Lincoln Northeast, Kathryn Howard of Hastings and Benjamin Lupo of Omaha North - each won $2,000 scholarships. The scholarships are sponsored by The Gallup Organization and the Dean H. and Floreen G. Eastman Memorial Fund.

Westside's winning team in the Math Bowl included Fenwick, Aaron Junge, Eric Lawson and Ali Thariani. The Warriors beat a Lincoln East team of Carrell, Alexander Lin and Aaron Fluitt in the final round.

Math Bowl winners in other classes included Norris in Class B, Grand Island Central Catholic in Class C and Spalding in Class D. The runners-up were Kearney Catholic in Class B, Centura in Class C and Keya Paha County in Class D. Teams from 103 Nebraska high schools competed.

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 three 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 four-year scholarships to UNL.

There are two team competitions. The first competition is determined by averaging the top scores from each school on PROBE I. The second is a double-elimination tournament pitting three-member teams against each other with trophies given to the top two teams in each class. All the PROBE I questions assume only two years of high school algebra and one year of geometry. However, the answers to PROBE II questions require the creativity and originality expected from only the very best students.

Team members (including substitutes) on the top two teams in Classes B, C and D in the Math Bowl were:

* Class B -- Norris, Ben Hage, Tanner Moormeier, Mark Onwiler, Aaron Steele and Matthew Troupe; Kearney Catholic, Adam Methe, Paul Niedbalski, Danny Norwood.

* Class C -- Grand Island Central Catholic, Jaycie Schmidt, Laura Wirth, Sarah Wirth; Centura, Matt Coe, Tim Echtenkamp, Tyler Lemburg.

* Class D -- Spalding, Paul Bauer, Mitchell Glesinger, Brett Thome; Keya Paha County, Tony Arens, Tyler Clay, Casey Painter.

The top three female students in the PROBE I competition were Westcott, Sally Hudson of Lincoln East and Howard. The top three male students in PROBE I were Carrell, Anish Mitra of Lincoln East and Benjamin Lupo of Omaha North.

The top five teams in PROBE I, by class, were:

Class A: Lincoln East (90.2 of 100 possible points), Creighton Prep (74), Omaha North (73.8), Omaha Westside (72.8), Lincoln Northeast (62.6).

Class B: Norris (58.25), Omaha Skutt (52.5), Syracuse (48.75), Kearney Catholic (46.25), Auburn (44.5).

Class C: Omaha Brownell-Talbot (56.67), Elkhorn Mount Michael (55.33), Tecumseh (53.33), Grand Island Central Catholic (52), Tri County (47.33).

Class D: Lincoln Parkview Christian (51.33), Lindsay Holy Family (50), Lincoln College View (48.67), Waco Nebraska Lutheran (46), Deshler (45.33).

CONTACTS: Gordon Woodward, Professor, Mathematics, Director, Math Day, (402) 472-7239; and
Lori Mueller, Administrator, Math Day, (402) 472-6234