ALACHUA COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – (Intelligence x Practice) Determination^3 + Experience/Great Coach = Victory

We don’t know if that’s the exact equation, but it seems like some combination of those factors is what makes for a winning math team.

After narrowly losing last year’s state championship, the Buchholz High School (BHS) math team had something to prove at this year’s contest.

Their persistence paid off.

Buchholz students not only returned state champs, but they also brought home a total of 231 total awards, including 22 team and individual first place awards.

Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) says the team earned first place wins in all four divisions of the competition (calculus, pre-calculus, Algebra 2/geometry and statistics).

“The work ethic and seriousness with which they approached this year’s championship was amazing,” said BHS math team coach Will Frazer. “This win is on my short list of all-time best victories.”

ACPS says this is the 16th time in 19 years the BHS math team has won the statewide Mu Alpha Theta Competition which was held over the weekend in Orlando.

The district says Buchholz earned a total of 7,444 points, decisively beating rival American Heritage Broward, which earned 7,133 points.

The team now prepares for the national championship where it will defend its title. This year’s national championship will be held in Las Vegas in July.

The first-place winners from Buchholz in this year’s state competition include:

  • Mu division (Calculus)-Team of Daniel Wang, Thomas Wu, Andrew Xing, and Billy Yang
  • Alpha division (Pre-calculus)-Team of Jerry Yao, Saber Lian, Bryan Zheng, and Eric Gao
  • Theta division (Algebra 2 and Geometry)-Team of Jonathan Lin, Watson Inglett, Xi Chen, and Daniel Zhang
  • Statistics division-Team of Anish Patel, Vijay Hans, Michael Wei, and Eileen Lai
  • Relay-Team of Katie He, Bryan Zheng, and Xi Chen
  • Bryan Zheng-Alpha Matrices and Vectors
  • Antony Kurian-Theta Logs and Exponents
  • Daniel Zhang-Theta Applications
  • Daniel Zhang-Equations and Inequalities
  • Thomas Wu-Mu Integration
  • Xi Chen-Theta Quadrilaterals
  • Xi Chen-Theta Geometry
  • Jonathan Lin-Theta Functions
  • Katie He-Mu Area and Volume
  • Eileen Lai-Statistics Ciphering
  • Anish Patel-Statistics individual
  • Daniel Wang-Mu Ciphering
  • Daniel Wang-Mu BC Calculus
  • Nathan Wei-Mu Applications
  • Michael Wei-Open Probability
  • Eddie Yuan-Alpha Equations and Inequalities
  • Bryan Zheng-Alpha Trigonometry