Students from Monterey Bay Charter school conquer MATHCOUNTS

Monterey Bay Charter School won first place at the MATHCOUNTS regional competition held Saturday at San Benancio Middle School. Monterey Bay Charter officials are delighted in the win, as it's the first time the school achieves this feat.

"We got the team award, and one of our team members got third place award," said Kristi Heath, the school's administrative coordinator. "It's pretty exciting. This was really a big win, specially as a small school."

In the past, the school has won individual trophies and a third place team award but it’s the first time the school will go on to the state competition, Heath said.

Members of the winning team -- coached by Sandra Boyd -- are: Pavel Hickman, Tomas Hickman, Eugene Pastor, and Andrew Simpson. The team will now advance to the state competition, to be held at Stanford University on March 21.

San Carlos School came in second place, followed by Santa Catalina School.

MATHCOUNTS is a national math enrichment, coaching and competition program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students. More than 6 million students across the U.S. have participated in MATHCOUNTS programs. Leadership at the local levels of the MATHCOUNTS Competition Series is provided by members of the California Society of Professional Engineers.