The Leesville Road High School Brain Game team lost to Wakefield High School at the WRAL Brain Game semifinals part 1, 470 to 550, on Saturday, March 5. However, because Leesville scored the most points among all the teams that lost in the semifinals, the team was awarded a wildcard spot to participate in the semifinals part 2.
Wakefield established its position early on, racing out to a 100 to 0 lead after round 1, Pop-Up Culture. From there, Wakefield only increased its lead. Following the conclusion of round 5, Wakefield had built a comfortable margin, 410 to 190.
“I still felt we could catch up,” said Andrew Christian, a senior, “or at least get a good second place score.”
After the ensuing math and science rounds, Leesville fell behind a total of 240 points. With two rounds remaining, which dealt with Poland, Switzerland, Denmark and the American rivers, the team finally began making its comeback run. However, unlike the previous quarterfinals match, the point difference was too great to overcome for the team.
Leesville outscored Wakefield 200 to 40 in the final two rounds, but the effort fell short of outscoring Wakefield. However, scoring 470 points was high enough for Leesville to earn a wildcard spot.
Christian is exciting about the new opportunity. “Well, this is the furthest I’ve been in my brain game career, and if we get to the championship, that would be pretty cool.”
Leesville will play Wakefield again on April 2 in the second part of the semifinals. “I feel confident about our chances against Wakefield, even though it will be challenging,” said Christian.
The other match in the bracket will have Enloe High School face the North Carolina School of Science and Math. The two winning schools will compete in the Brain Game finals later on in the same day.
I think math competitions are amazing.
Leave a Reply