Statesboro High School’s Varsity Division I Math Team took first place for the second year in a row at the 23rd Annual Georgia Southern University Mathematics Tournament held last month in Hanner Fieldhouse.
      Teams from Statesboro and Southeast Bulloch Middle and High sSchools joined nearly 700 students from 52 schools, and the Bulloch schools came away with 10 of the tournament’s top individual and team spots.
    “We had 16 students competing in the written and ciphering competitions,” said Statesboro math teacher Jake Collins. 
      “We compete in Division I which is the highest classification, and we face students from much larger high schools.”
Derek Lee, Supriya Immaneni, Sealah “Claire” Lee and Kaijie Lu represented Statesboro High in capturing first place in Varsity Division I.
      In other team action, Statesboro took third place in Junior Varsity Division I, Southeast Bulloch won second place in Junior Varsity Division II and second place in Varsity Division II, and Southeast Bulloch Middle won second place in Middle School Division II.  
      In the individual competition Supriya Immaneni, Sealah “Claire” Lee and Derek Lee took second, third and fourth place in Varsity Division I and Jung Hayun won third place in Junior Varsity Division I. Emiry Blitch of SEB won second place in Junior Varsity Division II.
      Dr. Susie Lanier, an assistant professor within GSU’s Department of Mathematics, chairs the Tournament’s planning committee.
      “The tournament is one of the most popular academic events in the southeast for middle and high school students, and we continue to receive many compliments from schools and team sponsors,” Lanier said. 
      More than 150 GSU faculty and student volunteers facilitated the event that turned Hanner’s basketball court into a massive classroom.