The young Wesleyan team consisted of sophomore Michelle Aquilino (North Pontiac, Md.), and three freshmen: Corey Langley (Upper Saint Clair, Pa.), Jessica Riffle (Weston, W.Va.), and Kathryn Simmons (Baltimore, Md.).

The competition, coordinated by Gerald Wutcher (Mount Union College), was attended by six teams representing five of the ECC campuses. Each squad participated in a three-hour exam, starting with basic group mathematic problems and ending with difficult problems.

Westminster College’s trio of Alan Higby, Joseph Katich and Bradley Patton won first place while Mount Union’s quartet of Chris Coffin, James Hack, Amanda Hirschauer, and Michelle Nord placed third behind Wesleyan.

“We finished second to a very good and senior-oriented Westminster team,” remarked Michael Berry, director of the team and a Professor of Mathematics at Wesleyan.

“We had a very inexperienced group of students with just one sophomore and three freshmen, but our team worked well together. This team was really assembled at the last second this year. We only had the one team enter this year’s event, but a college can enter more than one team in the competition and we plan to do that next year. It was a good experience overall for the kids, plus, they were able to meet students from other colleges with the same interests.”

Remarked Aquilino, “It was amazing how well we worked together in the competition. We each had different strengths, making it possible to attain the placing that we did. I guess it shows how much of a difference it makes to have a well-developed, diverse group as opposed to a group of similar people or one person on their own.”

Riffle added, “I thought that it was fun and interesting. I thought our team worked very well together, and hopefully we will do even better in future competitions now that we have some experience and will have taken higher level courses.”

Langley concluded, “The ECC Mathematics Competition was nice in that it lets you compare your school’s math department with that of other colleges in the East. I am proud to say that our math department is one of the best.”

Member colleges of ECC are Bethany College, Heidelberg College, Hiram College, Marietta College, Mount Union College, Muskingum College, Otterbein College, West Virginia Wesleyan College, and Westminster College.

Hiram College will host the event next year while Wesleyan will entertain the event during the 2004-05 school year.