The Benet Math Team wrapped up its 2025-26 season at the ICTM State Competition at ISU on April 26th, 2026. Despite having a relatively small number of representatives, Benet performed well. Team members left ISU enthusiastically looking ahead to next season.
Benet’s success largely stemmed from meticulous preparation beforehand. Under moderators Mr. Emge and Mrs. Bruining, members worked diligently on Thursday afternoons to cultivate the proper mindset for state. They developed not only intelligence, but also persistence, a trait Mrs. Bruining heavily emphasizes. By studying an intensive array of questions from past competitions, the team had more than enough stamina for the four qualifying meets held throughout the school year. With every competition across Chicagoland, they achieved the success needed for the important date of February 28th — regionals. After much additional practice, eleven students from the team competed against hundreds more for the chance to reach state. Six of Benet’s eleven representatives won medals from the individual written competitions for each grade. In addition, the team managed four top-three finishes in the group events. Overall, their track record boded well for state, which was to be held two months later.
Throughout the day at Illinois State University, team members participated in the same competitions as regionals—the individual written competition, the 8-person team competition, and the calculator team competition—but with the difficulty increased substantially. Nevertheless, the Redwings managed to secure a 9th-place finish in the freshman-sophomore 8-person competition. Freshmen Ben Hizon, Nicholas Ndrio, Nathaniel Tan, and Emmett VanVuren joined forces with sophomores Grant Cabana, George Pallan, and Henry Stratton to earn 9th place out of 34 participants. Though this was their only victory, team members left ISU proud of their work and dedication. They finished 24th out of 56 teams, many of which had far more players than Benet. Junior Jake Wittman summarized the team’s attitude aptly, saying, “Even though our team was smaller than it was the last couple of years, we were still able to be competitive both at regionals and at state.”
With the 2025-26 season ending, the Math Team is proud to have brought home multiple plaques and medals for display. Though their desire to win it all at state remains unfulfilled, they maintain the same level of determination to succeed in the next year.
