Talented 'mathletes' make their marks at regional Mathex contest

Huntley School boarders in pyjamas training for the recent mathex competitions. Photos / Supplied

The annual regional Mathex competition held in Whanganui Intermediate School hall attracted 105 teams from schools throughout the district this year.

Organiser Dawn Duncum said it was fantastic to see such enthusiastic participation for the challenging and fast-paced mathematics contest.

"Teams from as far as Clifton and Bulls in the south to Whenuakura in the north took part in answering 20 questions as quickly as possible with a maximum time allowed of 30 minutes."

Huntley school principal Sam Edwards said it was "an unbelievable night" for students from the day and boarding school in Marton.

"Our students have been training hard for this and it was great to see their efforts come to fruition.

"The year 6 team stopped the clock in an unbelievable 22 mins which were enough to take first place in their category."

Edwards said Huntley's squad of talented "mathletes" voluntarily used their prep time before bed to train for the competition.

Huntley year 7 and 8 teams also performed well against some robust competition.

"An advantage of being a boarding school is that our live-in students have that extra time together to encourage each other.

"Thanks must go to our dedicated staff for all the enthusiasm and preparation they have poured into this."

The St Johns Hill School year 5 team also did exceptionally well stopping the clock at 15.32 minutes.

The final results were:

Year 5: 1st with 20 - St Johns Hill 4 (Mitchell Young, Owen Murphy, Xandor Laird, Sam Penwarden) 2nd with Westmere 1 (Archie Amon, Sam Hadfield, Xavier Booth, Conor Brodie) 3rd with 11 - Fordell (Grace Glasgow, Riley Walker, Makj Reitsma, Toby Gill).

Year 6 : 1st with 20 - Huntley (Hamish Cranstone, Harry Dickie, Tav Hall, Ashton Trotter) 2nd with 18 - St Georges 2 ( Micky Zhang, Harry Green, Hannah Byam, Cooper Tull) 3rd with 17 Mosston (Monique Smith, Caydn Howe, Bailee Fernandez, Mahe Marryatt).

Year 7: 1st with 13 Whanganui Intermediate 1 (Sarah Couper, Bonnie Herrick, Lucas Hodgson, Jake Newton) 2nd with Huntley 2 (Ashleigh Morton, Honor Walker, Logan Gloyn, Charlie Pedley) 3rd equal with 11 Huntley 3 (Rory Nugent-O'Leary, Quin Harris-Campbell, Matty Leary, Maddie Stephenson) and St Georges 2 (Beatrix Mackintosh, Caden Drover, Lucy Taylor, Harrison Richmond) and Huntley 1 (Caitlin McKelvie, Summer Glyon, Austin Williams, Maximus Chiewanicha).

Year8 : 1st with 16 - Westmere 1 (Ryan Law, Lexi Hayes, Thomas Gowan, Angus Hadfield) 2nd equal with 4 - St Georges 2 (Savannah Gray, Ava Gannon, Chelsea Jones, Sophia Brown) and Huntley 1 (Angus Pearce, Falcon Proffit, Jack TRotter, Sam Cranstone) 3rd with 13 Whanganui Intermediate 3 (Dhruv Lal, Maori Scythe, Olivia Johnston, Carter Baum).