Two Annandale sixth-grade math counts teams placed third and fifth in a field of 23 on Thursday, March 12, at a Math Masters competition in Hutchinson. A total of 113 students showed their prowess in speed drills, individual and team problem-solving rounds. The speed drill consisted of 75 problems in which students were given five minutes to complete as many questions as possible, Annandale adviser Sandy Greve said. "These fact problems are multi-step so students need to apply the order of operation rules to solve them correctly," she said. Spencer Ogden and Lisa Neuman tied for first with 71 correct in the fact speed drill while Nathan Manuel and Carter Diers earned medals for placing in the top five. Zach Abfalter, Sarah Grimm, Jordan Diers, Bo Bieniek and Chase Knickerbocker all earned ribbons for placing in the top 15. Carter Diers was third in the individual problem-solving round and Jordan Diers was fourth. They both earned medals. Earning ribbons in that category were Sarah Grimm, 13th, Chase Knickerbocker, 14th and Bo Bieniek, 17th. The team problem-solving portion of the event consisted of three rounds of 10 problems. The total from the team rounds were added to the individual scores for each team member, Greve said. Annandale’s first team scored a grand total of 117 points for third place. Team members are Carter and Jordan Diers, Grimm, Abfalter and Manuel. Annandale’s second team scored 106 points for fifth place. They are Hannah Spaulding, Neumann, Ogden, Bieniek and Knickerbocker. Annandale’s fifth-grade team competed on Friday, April 24.
