In preparation for the UIL District meet on Friday, Mar. 27, the UIL math and science team traveled to San Antonio, TX  on Mar. 21 to compete in the TMSCA state competition. TMSCA stands for Texas Math and Science Coaches Association, and it offers tests similar to that of UIL. Argyle won the TMSCA sweepstakes, or the team with the highest average score, from all the events, continuing their 13 year win-streak.

“The team did outstanding,” Coach Cliff McCurdy said. “I was just hoping that they’d win by a little bit, but they won by a lot, over 600 points.”

Even though the team won with a high score, this is not the best they have every performed at TMSCA.

“They did well, but the past two years we’ve won by about 900 points,” Coach McCurdy says. “The main difference is probably Ross Coker. You have to understand that when superman is on your team it makes a little difference.”

Going into the competition, the team had some concerns about their placing.

“We expect some stiff competition from Wylie,” Coach McCurdy said. “That’s why I thought it’d be really close, but our guys from august til now have really come a long way.”

Even without Ross Coker, the team was still able to win, and two students even earned scholarship money in what is called the “Top Gun” program. The Top Gun awards are given to the students who have the best average scores from all four tests: Number Sense, Calculator, Mathematics, and Science. This year, both Rhiannon Mohar and Samantha Rider received a top gun award. Mohar received $900 while Rider received $650.

“I had doubts and worries about how well our team would measure up,” Rider said,” but I think it was better to be nervous than over confident.”

Other big winners of the meet included Justin Clark, Travis Kosco, Shashwat Tripathy, Hugh Devine, and Andrew Hienes who placed first in different events for their grade level.

“For the most part, Mr. McCurdy, Ms. Kass, Ms. Good, and Mr. Perkins all worked really hard to make sure we were as prepared as possible,” Rider said.