Math whizzes from 19 Santa Barbara County elementary schools got a shot at glory Thursday at the second annual North County Math Superbowl.

Called “a spelling bee for math,” the bowl gives math-inclined fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders from Santa Ynez to Santa Maria the opportunity to show off their hard-earned calculating skills.

The competition included both written and hands-on challenges, and both team- and individual-based battles.

“The kids that do this event are the smartest in their schools ... The schools have programs for every level, but (the bowl) is a program for kids who are really just above and beyond ... they're doing things not many people can do,” said Miles Greenup, a fifth-grade teacher at Dunlap School, who was wearing a homemade T-shirt with a cartoonish portrait of Albert Einstein on the front.

On the back of shirt was a drawing of an oversized calculator with the words, “This calculator works by scratching the buttons. Please try now.”

The North County bowl debuted last year as a spin-off of the Santa Barbara County Math Superbowl.

Since its inception 26 years ago, the county bowl had become so popular that students - primarily students from far-flung North County schools - were turned away in ever-increasing numbers.

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“So, (county officials) said, ‘You need to start your own bowl,'” North County bowl coordinator Suzanne Levy said with a laugh.

“We're just really excited to be able to offer this opportunity to our kids,” she added.

The students that compete in both bowls are handpicked by their teachers or are the winners of their individual schools' math “superbowl” competition.

On Thursday, the Santa Maria Veteran's Hall was a sea of black, brown, blond and ginger-colored heads bent over in concentration - some touching - as their owners designed and built towers from clear plastic drinking straws.

Though the students had limited time to devote to their creations, the self-supporting towers had to stand tall while being sturdy enough to hold the weight of small metal washers.

“We did it, we did it!” declared Mellany Cunningham, a fifth-grader from Patterson Road Elementary, as her team's tower stood on its own during judging.

A split second later, the team let out a small collective gasp as the tower began to sway slightly.

However, after a quick adjustment, the 64-inch tower stood on its own for well beyond the five-second requirement, and the team took fourth place in the fifth-grade team hands-on challenge.

Competing in the math superbowl was “cool,” said Emily Ayers, one of Mellany's teammates.

Emily said her favorite part in the competition was the straw tower challenge because “that's the funnest part.”

The tallest tower, built by a group of sixth-graders from Solvang School, stood a full 72 inches, or 6 feet tall.

At the end of the bowl, it was the Dunlap team that tallied up the most points and took home the trophy for Top Overall Team Performance.

Individual medals were won by sixth-grader Nick Sieja of Dunlap, fifth-grader Laurel Kwon of Buena Vista School, and fourth-grader Savannah Avery of Solvang School.

North County Math Superbowl

May 15, 2008

School Trophy

1st place - Ralph Dunlap School

2nd Place - May Grisham School and Nightingale School

3rd Place - Pine Grove School

4th Place - Solvang School

Team Plaques

6th Grade

1st Place - Ralph Dunlap School

2nd Place - Pine Grove School

3rd Place - Alice Shaw School

4th Place - Patterson Road School

5th Grade

1st - Buena Vista School

2nd - Nightingale School and Pine Grove School

3rd - May Grisham School

4th - Crestview School

4th Grade

1st - Oak Valley School

2nd - May Grisham School

3rd - Patterson Road School

4th - Ralph Dunlap School and Solvang School and Crestview School

Individual Medals

6th Grade

1st - Nick Sieja, Ralph Dunlap School

2nd - Natalie Hopkins, Nightingale School

3rd - Lisa Malins, Ralph Dunlap School

4th - Matthew Honeyman, Solvang School and Nathan Craig, Patterson Road School and Phillip Gallet, Pine Grove School

5th Grade

1st - Laurel Kwon, Buena Vista School

2nd - Kurt Gabriel, Buena Vista School

3rd - Brandon Pita, Nightingale School

4th - Madison Santana, Pine Grove School

4th Grade

1st - Savannah Avery, Solvang School

2nd - Cooper Everestt, Oak Valley School

3rd - Eric Wittman, Oak Valley School

4th - Julie Eberhardt, May Grisham School

Hands-on Activity

6th Grade

1st - Solvang School

2nd - Ballard School

3rd - Dunn School and Ralph Dunlap School

4th - Los Olivos School

5th Grade

1st - Solvang School

2nd - Patterson Road School

3rd - Santa Ynez School

4th - Ralph Dunlap School

4th Grade

1st - Mary Buren School

2nd - Ballard School

3rd - Pine Grove School

4th - May Grisham School

May 16, 2008