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Hard work and sometimes twice a week practices paid off for a group of math-proficient middle schoolers in Chisago Lakes recently.

The Chisago Lakes Middle School Math League team was named the East Central Division champions after winning their fourth meet of the season last week.

The team, comprised of sixth, seventh and eighth graders, won four of the five East Central meets this year to capture first place. Other teams competing in the division this year were North Branch and Princeton.

Coach/advisors Diane Spychalla, Abby Spychalla and Kay Rabel, all math teachers at CLMS, started meeting with the students in September.

Practices were held once a week and sometimes twice a week, depending on the meet schedule.

Diane said students didn’t have to take a test to qualify for the team. “They just needed to show an interest,” she said. The math teachers also spoke with some of the students they felt would be good team members.

Diane was pleased to see a high number of sixth graders on the team who will hopefully make up the core team next year. Although they are invited to meets with the rest of the team, the results are based on the seventh and eighth grade scores.

The team’s success was noticed statewide. The CLMS team was consistently ranked among the top 20 teams in the state. Diane said final season standings haven’t been tabulated yet, but they should know soon where they finished compared to other teams across the state.

There is no advanced competition for middle school Math League teams, so the team celebrated their successful season with a pizza party Monday after school.

Diane said the middle school program was established solely as a feeder program into high school Math Leagues. She has been the Math League advisor for around 20 years, she estimates.

She and the other two coaches will be taking a small group of eighth graders from the team to a Math League competition in St. Cloud in February. There, she said, they face fierce competition from students at schools such as St. Cloud Tech. They go for the challenge and to see what kind of talent there is out there at their grade level.

Individually, the CLMS team had six members in the top 11 in their division. They were: 1st- Shane Schulter, 3rd- Kevin Jennissen; Josh Bassett, Austen Almendinger, Katie Johnson and Charlie Wilcox.

Other team members include: Tyler Hoffman, Paul Goossen, Tyler Stadler, Nick LeTourneau, Joe LaBarre, Evan Snell, Gus Moline, BaiLeigh Swenson, Rebecca Sys, Becky Harwell and Emily Goranson.

The Chisago Lakes Middle School Math League team captured the East Central Division championship with a win at the final meet of the season. Happily displaying their trophy were team members: (front, l to r) Becky Harwell, Emily Goranson, Katie Johnson; (center) Charlie Wilcox, Shane Schluter, Josh Bassett, Rebecca Sys; (back) Kevin Jennissen, Tyler Hoffman, Paul Goossen, Tyler Stadler, Nick LeTourneau, Joe LaBarre, Evan Snell, Gus Moline and BaiLeigh Swenson. Not pictured: Austen Almendinger.

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