Math whiz Bobby Shen of Sugar Land secured his second title as MATHCOUNTS® Texas Champ!

Bobby Shen may be little, but he proved he could hold his own against some tough-and much bigger-comers at Saturday's MATHCOUNTS Texas State Competition.

Representing the cream of America's math and science crop of future scientists and engineers, 286 middle-school students-called Mathletes™-participate in the MATHCOUNTS Texas State Competition each year after qualifying in local chapter competitions across the state.

Four person teams compete to establish the official school rankings, after which the top ten highest-scoring individuals proceed to the final Countdown Round, in which the tenth-place individual goes heads-up against the ninth-place individual, and so on, giving them each a chance to either move up in ranking or get eliminated.

By approximately 2:30pm during Saturday's competition, the team results were already in. Bobby's team, from First Colony Middle School in Sugar Land, had placed first. The team from Kealing Middle School in Austin took second, with the team from A&M Consolidated Middle School in College Station coming in third.

After some extremely tough competition from challengers like Ding Zhou, from Harmony School of Excellence in Houston (who moved up from seventh place to finish third after the countdown round by buzzing in within seconds to answer several questions correctly before the moderator could finish reading them), it was down to the final face-off with the top two finalists remaining with a tied score of two points each.

Three correct answers would win the title.

Seventh-grader Bobby Shen, last year's winner from First Colony Middle School in Sugar Land, was just one answer away from winning the state title for the second year running.

After starting the round in second place, he was now facing top-scorer Kevin Tian, a seventh-grader from Canyon Vista Middle School in Austin, who started the Countdown Round in first place. Kevin was one answer away from ousting Bobby to become the new state champ.

Whoever answered the next problem correctly would win it.

Bobby's coach, Jeff Boyd, could barely keep still in his seat. When the final problem was read and Bobby's buzzer lit up, Boyd was grinning from ear to ear as his diminutive math prodigy gave the final-and correct-answer in his soft, steady voice. Bobby had won it again!

As state champ, Bobby will have now another shot at the national title (after his schoolmate, Kevin Chen, won it last year). The top four individuals from the Texas competition-Bobby, Kevin, Ding and fourth-place winner Kevin Li from A&M Consolidated Middle School in College Station-will represent the Lone Star State at the 2008 Lockheed-Martin MATHCOUNTS National Competition on May 8-10 in Denver, Colorado.

As the coach of the first place team at the state competition, Jeff Boyd will serve as coach to the official Texas State Team at the national competition. A MATHCOUNTS veteran with over 15 years coaching experience, Boyd also teaches and coaches math at Fort Settlement Middle School in Sugar Land, which placed fifth in the team round this year.

One of the most successful and revered coaches in the history of the program, this will be his fourth year in a row that Boyd will serve as coach at the national level. Under his guidance, the 2005 Texas State Team secured the first ever national championship title for Texas. In 2007, he helped Texas reclaim the national title after the 2006 team came in fourth, losing the title to Virginia.

For over twenty years, Texas has supported MATHCOUNTS-a national math coaching and competition program designed to increase enthusiasm and enhance achievement in middle school mathematics-because it fosters the highly advanced problem-solving and critical thinking skills today's students will need to become tomorrow's leaders and innovators and help keep Texas competitive in an increasingly technology-driven economy. Understanding the need to promote math and science in Texas is Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is currently serving as the honorary chair for the 2008 MATHCOUNTS state program.

The Texas Engineering Foundation and the Texas Society of Professional Engineers sponsor the program as part of their educational outreach efforts to foster the development of the advanced critical-thinking and problem-solving skills that will guide these bright students toward careers as engineers, scientists and leaders.

MathCounts 2008 Texas State Competition Top Students

Hilton Airport Hotel, Saturday, March 29, 2008