WINNERS - AND STILL CHAMPS\Palmdale High aces math tourney.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Winning for the second straight year, Palmdale High School placed first Thursday in the Antelope Valley College's 16th annual high school math competition, beating its nearest rival by 38 points.

Palmdale students Adam Gray, Henry Pascual and Nadia Whisenand scored 201 points out of a possible 300 during a 90-minute exam for juniors and seniors to edge out William S. Hart High School of Santa Clarita 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 of 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 adjunct math professor.

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.

Matt Caretto, Brian Roney and Mike Wagner formed Hart High School's team that scored 163 for second place.

"I thought it was interesting," said Roney, a freshman but individual third-high scorer in the junior-senior contest with 66 points. "The questions were harder than I was used to. There were different twists."

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.

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, Littlerock High School, Paraclete High School, Quartz Hill High School and Rosamond High School.

CAPTION(S):

PHOTO

Photo (1--Color) Henry Pascual, left, top scorer, and teammates Adam Gray and Nadia Whisenand led Palmdale High to a math championship Thursday. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News (2) Chris Ohren, 15, left, and Jered Gray, 14, the younger members of their math team, show regional first-place awards won by Palmdale High. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News