MATHCOUNTS state qualifiers

Make it 10 straight years for the Nacogdoches ISD MATHCOUNTS team. Five students at McMichael Middle School are headed for Austin for the state competition that will take place Saturday, coach Andy Watts said. Watts established the MATHCOUNTS program at Mike Moses 10 years ago and guided the team to the state competition each year.

The first nine years of the streak were at Mike Moses, then a middle school. That campus was converted by the district to an elementary school this year, and all NISD sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders now attend McMichael. And the streak of MATHCOUNTS wins went with them.

McMichael students advancing to the state competition include eighth-graders Olivia Ajero, Sophie Middlebrook and Moira Diaz, and seventh-graders Ezra Gregory and Bohodar Pantiuk.

The students qualified Feb. 7 at the East Texas & Pineywoods chapter competition held at the University of Texas-Tyler. The regional contest includes written examinations, targeted calculator skills and rapid-fire, game show-like question and answer rounds.