Minnesota State High School Mathematics League
The Minnesota State High School Mathematics League is a high school mathematics league in the state of Minnesota. It was founded in 1980 by Macalester College Professor Wayne Roberts. The league holds five statewide tournaments per year from November through February, as well as a state tournament in March.
Questions
The problems posed are divided into five events - Individual events A, B, C, and D, and the team event. Events A, B, C, and D usually consist of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and precalculus topics, respectively. The team event is a mix of all four.
Scoring
Each team member chooses to compete in two individual events, and all team members compete in the team event. Each high school chooses its eight top members, including at least two students below the eleventh grade, as its "varsity" team. This is the team that actually racks up points in the name of the school; the other students simply compete for themselves. Each individual event contains one one point question and three two point questions, so the maximum a person may score per meet is fourteen points. The team events each contain six questions worth four points each. A team's score is determined by adding the individual scores of the varsity members and the varsity team score. At the end of the season, the teams with the highest scores in the state continue to the state tournament.
Winners
The League officially recognizes individual and team winners of two types each season, one with the highest overall season score, and one with the highest state tournament score. Since the 1988-1989 season, the League has recognized an additional Class A state tournament winner. In 2004-2005, this designation was changed to Tier 2 rather than Class A, with larger schools designated as Tier 1.
Eight students have achieved perfect scores of 70 points in the regular season: Erik Vee in 1991-1992, Michael Korn in 1995-1996, Andrew Gacek, Nate Sheetz, and Sam Lindsay-Levine in 1999-2000, Dan Baker in 2002-2003, Ning Zhou in 2003-2004, and Nick Arnosti in 2006-2007. Perfect scores on the state tournament are more common, but no student has ever achieved perfect scores in the regular season and tournament in the same year.
Year |
Individual |
Team |
|---|---|---|
Season |
Tournament |
Season |
2006-2007 |
Nick Arnosti |
Rohan Agrawal, Shui Hu |
2005-2006 |
Rohan Agrawal, Shui Hu |
Rohan Agrawal |
2004-2005 |
Silas Johnson |
Daniel Gibson |
2003-2004 |
Ning Zhou |
Ning Zhou |
2002-2003 |
Dan Baker |
Daniel Herriges |
2001-2002 |
Pavel Batrachenko |
Matt Thibault |
2000-2001 |
Matt Thibault |
Michel D'sa |
1999-2000 |
Andrew Gacek, Sam Lindsay-Levine, Nate Sheetz |
Sam Lindsay-Levine |
1998-1999 |
Andy Niedermaier |
Jon Moon |
1997-1998 |
Dave Freeman |
Dave Freeman |
1996-1997 |
Jin Wang |
Bill Owens |
1995-1996 |
Michael Korn |
Michael Korn |
1994-1995 |
Michael Korn |
Michael Korn |
1993-1994 |
Derek Farmer |
Matt Koetz |
1992-1993 |
Mary Hu |
Tom Wieand |
1991-1992 |
Erik Vee |
Kuan Chen Wu |
1990-1991 |
Ron Dror |
Ron Dror |
1989-1990 |
Matt Kelly |
Matt Kelly |
1988-1989 |
Steve Walther |
Tom Monikowski |
Year |
Season |
Tournament |
1987-1988 |
Josh Brandon |
Jim Mashek |
1986-1987 |
Steve Kuhn |
Peter Bermann |
1985-1986 |
Hieu Nguyen |
Tom Chung |
1984-1985 |
Paul Ohman |
Tom Chung |
1983-1984 |
Mike Pavloff |
Minneapolis South High School |
1982-1983 |
Bob Fink |
|
year |
Twin City Division |
Iron Range Division |
1981-1982 |
Son Nguyen |
Joe Baraga |
1980-1981 |
Erik Riddle |
Como Park Senior High School |