Separate skills count in College Cantamath team win
25 Aug 2023
All the numbers have added up to a big win for Christ’s College in the Cantamath team competition, with Ericsson Ye, JJ Wada, Charlie de Costobadie, and Josh Shannahan racing to the Year 10 title and claiming the perfect-score golden ticket.
“It truly was a team effort,” the boys point out. “We had everyone cheering us on, including our Calculus teacher, Ms Lester, and we really believed in ourselves right from the start.
“We just focused on each question and Josh did the running, racing up to the team of checkers with each answer. We won in 20 minutes, with Ericsson solving the final question to win and secure the golden ticket. We all have different strengths, so we have complemented each other.”
Amid the noise and excitement of all the schools and supporters, Ericsson has brought his calculus skills to the competitive arena, while JJ is very strong in algebra and theory. Charlie is quick to find a solution, along with Josh, who is also fast on delivery.
“We have an ideal blend of different mathematics skills and really work well together to quickly find the solution.”
For Ericsson and JJ, it has been satisfying to improve on their 3rd place finish in Year 9. All four boys also acknowledge the support and skills of their teacher, Ms Lester.
“It has been a great experience for all of us, and we urge other boys to try out for a Cantamath team next year.”
Only two schools, Christ’s College and runner-up St Andrew’s College, achieved the golden ticket after answering every question.
College had several multi-talented Years 9 and 10 teams competing at Cantamath.
Year 10
Team 1: Charlie de Costobadie, Josh Shannahan, JJ Wada, and Ericsson Ye
Team 2: Bill Cross, Marco Howe, Paddy Newton, and Michael Rankin
Reserves: William Butler, Bill Li, and Yannis Zhang
Year 9
Team 1: Alex Johnstone, Connor MacKenzie, Louis Sharr, and Lucas Zhang
Team 2: Will Coughlan, Hugh Davis, Tom Kerr, and Felix Liu
Reserves: Zac Croft, James Reed, and Sean Zhang
