TORII STATION, OKINAWA , JAPAN — March 5, 2009 — Nine teams and two individuals competed in this year's 2009 MATHCOUNTS competition. First place winner and last year’s reigning champion, Seoul Middle School, was led by students Jonathan Chang, Benjamin Kim, Adair Minihan, and Joshua Nascimento. The team was coached by Sallie Yoon and Maureen Flock. Edgren Middle School’s Wesley Belleman, Jackie Horton, Micah Pedrick, and Emma Thomascall, came in a close second. David Thomascall was the team coach.

The top two individual winners were Shintaro Clanton of Yokota Middle School , coached by Marilou Veillard; and Robert Perce, Ryukyu Middle School , coached by Cami Heck. This year’s participants included Edgren Middle School, Humpreys American School, Kadena Middle School, MC Perry, Ryukyu Middle School, Seoul Middle School, Yokosuka Middle School, Yokota Middle School, and Zama Middle School. The top two teams and two individual winners will now advance to the State competition, to be held in March against winners from DoDDS Europe and DDESS.

The competition consists of three official rounds: Sprint with 30 problems, Target with 8 problems, and Team with 10 problems. Celebrating its 26th Anniversary, MATHCOUNTS is a nationwide math coaching and competition program designed to improve math skills among U.S. students. Over seven million students across the U.S. have participated in the MATHCOUNTS program.