Middle school students from 11 counties met to compete in the National Chapter Level MATHCOUNTS event held at Coastal Carolina University on February 7. Thirteen teams with a total of 88 students matched brainpower for three hours before being told to stop and put their pencils down. When scores were tabulated, Ocean Bay Middle School was named the winner of the Chapter Level competition. Forestbrook Middle School placed third and North Myrtle Beach Middle School placed fourth, giving HCS three out of four winning team placements for the annual event. Ocean Bay Middle School will compete in the State Competition at Meadow Glen Middle School in Lexington on March 28.

Ocean Bay Middle School’s First Place team includes students Henry Hein, Ryan Bao, John Alo, Henry Sprout, Jade Crooks, Tony Mastroberti, Kaitlyn Rielly, Riu Zhang, and Summerlin Nickel and is coached by Sarah Leppert and Anna Smith.

Third Place winner Forestbrook Middle School’s team includes students Dashiell Stevonaich, Cameron Bell, Brianna Kow, Wallace Johnson, Eric Bronovitskiy, Sasha Bronovitskiy, Mathew Norton-Baker, Rodney Ward Wilson, and Jackson Little and is coached by Elissa Blosser and Kayla Maxwell.

North Myrtle Beach Middle School’s fourth place team includes students Edward Sophia, Grant King, CJ Custer, Jolee Masson, Israel Martinez, Cagney Kelshaw, Jasmine Thompson, Conner Chilton and William Alger and is coached by Kim Frye and Kristen Giraldi.

In addition to team competition, three HCS students won individual won awards for having accumulated the highest scores in team events. Ryan Bao of Ocean Bay Middle School won first place, Dashiell Stevonaich of Forestbrook Middle School won second place, and Ryan Moss of Black Water Middle School won third place. In Countdown competition, Dashiell Stevonaich of Forestbrook Middle School won first place, Ryan Bao of Ocean Bay Middle School won second place, and Ryan Moss of Black Water Middle School placed third. As top scoring individuals, Dashiell Stevonaich of Forestbrook Middle School and Ryan Moss of Black Water Middle School will advance to the State Finals.

Winners from the state event will advance to the Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Competition in Boston, Massachusetts in May.