Nine St. Margaret’s Middle School students journeyed to the University of California, Irvine to participate in the MathCounts Orange County competiton, with a trip to the state competition at stake.

More than 240 Orange County students participated in the event, which consisted of three different tests during the morning session and a “countdown” round pitting the top 12 students against each other in the afternoon.

In the end, St. Margaret’s grade 8 student Evan Lee outlasted everyone, winning the competition and qualifying for the MathCounts Southern California state championship later this month. That competition will also be held at UC Irvine.

Four of the St. Margaret’s students, including Evan, were selected based on placing in the top four at the St. Margaret’s Math Bee in January. The rest were chosen by faculty based on classroom work and involvement in the math club.

The nine students who made the trip were Evan, Surina Arora, Bailey Clark, Jonathan Lee, Saurabh Mallela, Kate Matthew, Nicole Men, Devin Thomas and Alan Wang.

Evan now prepares for the Southern California state competition on March 12. The top four individual competitors from each state (California is split into two states for the purpose of this competition) will make one four-person team and take part in the national competition in Orlando, Fla., starting May 13.