Math teams from P.J. Gelinas and R.C. Murphy junior high schools took home top prizes after competing in the Suffolk County Math Teachers Association’s annual tournament this January.

Two teams from Gelinas and two from Murphy represented Three Village during the 23rd annual event and competed in two rounds as individuals and one round as a team. All four teams, which consisted of eighth- and ninth-grade students, were challenged to answer an array of math questions. The questions increased in difficulty, incorporating material from subjects such as algebra II and minor trigonometry.

As a team, Murphy students Reilly Browne, Kelsey Ge, Daniel Ma, Daniel Schwartz and Albert Tian placed fourth, and Eric Chiu, Keene Lu, Priya Mukhi, Darren Tung and Cliffton Woo placed fifth. Gelinas students Matthew Fiorella, William Sun, Ben Templeton, Alice Yang and Grant Yu placed second. Individually, Three Village swept the top four positions, with Ma placing fourth, Templeton placing third, Lu placing second and Yu taking the top spot. Fellow students Jessica Guo, Morgan Persky, Ryan Qin, Neil Shady and Rebecca Zhang also took part in the contest.

To prepare, the students studied material from previous competitions and participated in dedicated review sessions.