HART HIGH TEAM FINISHES 2ND IN REGIONAL MATH COMPETITION.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Hart High School took second place Thursday in Antelope Valley College's 16th annual high school math competition, falling by 38 points to the 1995 champ, Palmdale High School.

Hart scored 163 with the team of Matt Caretto, Brian Roney and Mike Wagner.

"The questions were harder than I was used to. There were different twists," said Roney, a freshman who finished third among individual scorers with 66.

Caretto, an 18-year-old senior, said he did better than he thought he would.

"It's really tricky. It's concepts everybody understands. You have to know how to apply them to problems," Caretto said.

Palmdale students Adam Gray, Henry Pascual and Nadia Whisenand got 201 points of a possible 300 during a 90-minute exam for juniors and seniors to outscore Hart in the contest among large-enrollment schools.

"I would say it was probably tougher, but again all tests seem tough," said Pascual, who also was on last year's winning team and had Thursday's highest individual score, 78. "It's just a lot of practice. That's about all there is we can do."

The competition drew about 70 top math students from 14 public and private high schools from the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys and as far away as Ridgecrest, officials said.

"This gets students interested in math and also familiar with the college," said Chuck Ferrari, a college math instructor.

In the junior-senior contest, each member of the three-person teams completed a 20-question, 100-point exam for a 300-point maximum team score.

The two-member freshmen and sophomore teams each handled 11 questions in the "leap frog relay" competition for a 110-point maximum team score. The team partners trade papers during the test, allowing each student to finish a partner's work or correct mistakes.

Among small schools in the junior-senior competition, Wesley Cabreros, Jeremy Bower, and Tyson Clark of Desert High School from Edwards Air Force Base finished first with 153. Tehachapi High School's team of Dennis Johnson, Joseph Pulford and James Ha was close behind at 150.

In the "leapfrog" contest among large schools, Palmdale High students Jared Gray and Chris Ohren finished first with 85. Naomi Yoo and James Tam got 82 points and second place for Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest.

Among small schools, Tehachapi students Matthew Swenson and Kevin Hastings finished first with 90. Desert High students Robert Balmer and Eileen Ilagan were next with 86.

The individual second-place scorer was Whisenand of Palmdale with 70.

Palmdale team members attributed their success to practice and to the "mathlete" program, continued at their school when other schools in the district have dropped theirs.

"Every week we've been practicing," said Gray, a 17-year-old senior. "Other schools got rid of their mathlete programs, but we kept ours at Palmdale. Every Friday, we compete among ourselves."

Other competing in the field day were Antelope Valley Christian High School, Antelope Valley High School, Apple Valley High School, Boron High School, Desert Christian High School.

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Photo (Color) Hart High School's team - from left, Mike Wagner, 17; Matt Caretto, 18, and Brian Roney, 14 - won second-place medals Thursday in a math tournament at Antelope Valley College. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News