Deer Park math wizards finish ninth at state

A team of four boys from Deer Park School came in ninth at the state Mathcounts competition in Bozeman recently.

After winning the Flathead County Mathcounts competition in February, Kody Craner, Matt Catlett, Colter Norick and Vincent Yacavone went to Montana State University to compete against 17 other teams from across the state.

Their problem-solving abilities propelled them to ninth place as a team.

Craner was the team’s top individual, coach Dan Block said. He finished in 35th place.

A team from Cayuse Prairie also competed at state. They finished 17th, but team member William Cronk, an eighth-grader, placed fifth individually.

There are three rounds to the Mathcounts competition, Block said. In the first round, students have 40 minutes to answer 30 questions without calculators. In the second round, or “target round,” students answer two questions in six minutes. That round, in which calculators are allowed, is repeated four times.

In the final round, teammates work together for 20 minutes to solve 10 questions.

Team scores are found by averaging the team members’ individual scores, Block said.

Mathcounts is a middle school competition. Except for Norick, who is a sixth-grader, the  Deer Park teammates are all eighth-graders.

Deer Park has won the county Mathcounts competition three of last four years, including the last two years, Block said.

This is the best the team has ever done at state, he added.