"Mathletes" from Culver City won the 11th Annual Los Angeles Countywide Fourth- and Fifth-Grade Math Olympiads Tournament. El Marino Language School won first place in the team competition. 178 students throughout LA County competed in the tournament, held Saturday, April 14 at Linwood E. Howe Elementary School.

Nine teams from CCUSD competed, with five members each: Three teams from Linwood Howe; two teams each from Farragut and La Ballona; one team each from El Marino and El Rincon.

The team competition ended in a five-way tie. After a five-minute tie-breaker, CCUSD's El Marino triumphed as team champions. El Marino teammates also finished in the top tier of the individual competition. Kylar Cheng solved all 10 problems correctly; Eldrick Fan solved nine; Turner Algra and Avi Sharma solved eight.

The competition included problems that aren't typical classroom math questions. Some questions gave students only 30 minutes to solve 10 problems, or 3 minutes for each solution. In the team event, there was even less time: teams were required to solve 10 problems in 20 minutes.

"Our goal in organizing the tournament is to create an environment where girls and boys who enjoy the challenges of mathematics can be with others who feel the same way, hopefully stimulating them to pursue STEM careers (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)," said Jason Frand, tournament chair.

Lin Howe parent Karly Salisbury solved the problems on a big screen while teams waited for results. Parents watched the complexity, while students periodically exclaimed, "We got that one right!"

Each student received a certificate proclaiming participation in the tournament, as well as a tournament t-shirt.

Do you believe what came at tournament's end?

The Math Cheer, of course!

M...A...M...A...M A...T...H

M...A...M...A...M A...T...H

ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION, DIVISION

M...A...M...A...M A...T...H

The Linwood E. Howe Math Tournament is sanctioned by the international Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS) organization in New York. Parent volunteers Meera Ichharam and retired principal Rosie LaBriola, office manager Anissa McCullen, teacher Greg Holman and principal Dr. Kim Indelicato worked on the tournament committee for months.

Culver City Mathletes, and chaperones:

El Marino Language School: Turner Algra, Klyar Cheng, Konoko Gadt, Eldrick Gan and Avi Sharma.

El Rincon Elementary School: Daniel Campos, Benjamin DiValerio, Samantha Huey, Maylee Lopez and Ethan Winfield.

Farragut Elementary School: Steven Ashby, Jamie Bowman, Alexis Coffee, Bethany Doane, Twyli Downey, Avoub El-Alaoui, Daniel Hasegawa, Allison Liebl, Veta Oana and Gianna Wong.

La Ballona Elementary School: Nathan Garcia, Isabella Hernandez, James Hiadek, Nathaniel Josephson, Mackenzie Lingle, Mark Maxwell, and Spencer Reilly, Ruby Shuler-Loughran, Sara Syed and David Villa.

Linwood E. Howe Elementary School: Sylvie Burmeister, Reese Ford, Duke Friske, Tavish Hatch, Jordan Kang, Audrey Marin, Shanti Nikhanji, , Leena Powell, Elliot Rosenberg, Cate Schilling, Emaan Sheik, Lyra Small, Ava Steins, Dane Sundean and Flora Woo.