After a brief rest, the time came to 2 PM, and the semifinals of the Math Olympiad competition began again.
Compared to the preliminary round in the morning, there were more spectators in the Math Building in the afternoon, who came to watch the competition. These people were true Math enthusiasts.
Moreover, the three matches in the afternoon would determine this year's Math Olympiad Champion. Relatively speaking, the value of the competition would also increase significantly.
As the top seed, Marymount Academy was still the first to appear in the afternoon semifinals.
After the semifinals began, it became clear that, without considering individual factors, Marymount Academy's overall Math Olympiad level was indeed higher than other academies.
Even Caroline, the eleventh-grade female student, had a very solid and comprehensive Math Olympiad knowledge.
As the difficulty of the rotating question bank increased, Marymount Academy, with its solid knowledge base, easily defeated its opponent in the first round of rotating questions, while its opponent made continuous mistakes.
"Congratulations to Marymount Academy for being the first to secure a spot in the finals!"
The old professor presiding over the competition announced the result with a slightly raised voice after the two teams had a winner and loser.
Accompanied by sparse applause from the audience, Carter, who had secured the first spot in the finals, also smiled and led his team members to wave to the audience.
After a morning of observation and analysis, Carter had also determined that other schools could not threaten his academy from winning the championship.
Therefore, with confidence, he could not hide the happy expression on his face.
"That damn curly-haired guy..." Kevin, who already had a prejudice, looked at Carter's brilliant smile on the stage and found it very annoying.
"Alright, Kevin, it's your turn next." Ms. Sharon encouraged the team members who were about to go on stage: "Perform well, don't be nervous, you are no worse than anyone else."
"Understood, Ms. Sharon." Kevin promised with full fighting spirit: "We will defeat that annoying curly-haired guy in the finals."
At the same time, the old professor presiding over the competition continued to advance the competition process: "Now, let's welcome the team members from Medford High and St. Patrick's High School to the stage!"
As last year's third-place finisher, St. Patrick's High School's Math Olympiad level should also be good. In the preliminary round this morning, they also defeated their opponent by answering all questions correctly in the rotating question round.
When the Medford Math Olympiad team members and St. Patrick's Math Olympiad team members went to the answer area, the second semifinal of the afternoon officially began.
As the competition progressed, Mike continued to maintain his persona as a "normal" high school student.
And seeing his performance again, the Medford team members, who knew the reason behind it, were no longer nervous; instead, they all kept straight faces.
There was nothing they could do; knowing the secret, they found Mike's "Performance" very amusing and might burst out laughing if they didn't keep straight faces.
In this atmosphere, Mike repeatedly answered all the questions in the first round of rotating questions with "surprising ease."
And the team members from St. Patrick's High School were also in good form; they also answered all questions correctly by the end of the rotating question round.
Therefore, both teams entered the second round of the quick-answer session with perfect scores.
There were a total of ten questions, and the academy that answered six questions correctly first would win.
"Beep... Beep... Beep..."
In the quick-answer session, each team had a quick-answer button in front of them.
Mike, with his extraordinary physique, stopped pretending. In this round, whenever the host finished reading a question, he would press the button first at an incredibly fast speed.
He gave the opposing team no chance at all.
Of course, after grabbing the right to answer, he would not answer the question to maintain his persona but would leave the answering opportunity to his teammates.
With Kevin full of fighting spirit, plus Mike, who was exceptionally strong but pretended to be a novice, the Medford Math Olympiad team members were very relaxed, and their competition state was naturally excellent.
Thus, in the second round of the quick-answer session, Mike, with absolute hand speed, consecutively grabbed the right to answer the first six questions for his team.
With Kevin as a safeguard, Medford High defeated its opponent and advanced to the finals in a strong manner.
Looking at the St. Patrick's High School team members on the opposite side, their faces were all filled with helplessness.
It could be said that the second round of answering questions had almost become a one-man show for Medford High; St. Patrick's High School, as the opponent, had no sense of participation at all.
In this kind of intellectual competition, losing due to hand speed naturally makes people very frustrated.
"Congratulations to Medford High for entering the finals." The old professor presiding over the competition announced: "Now, let's take a short break, and then enter the final championship battle!"
There were only three matches in the afternoon, so there was plenty of time. Therefore, there would be a ten-minute break between the semifinals and the finals, to allow the second team to enter the finals to adjust their state.
...
Before the break ended, on the Medford answer area on stage, Ms. Sharon patted each team member on the shoulder, her voice slightly excited: "Don't have any burden, you've already done very well. I'm proud of you..."
It was clear that being so close to the championship made Ms. Sharon, the Math Olympiad coach, feel a bit nervous.
"Don't worry, teacher, we've already won." Kevin said with a determined expression.
Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, he smiled and gestured: "Look at those ugly ducklings on the other side, at least in terms of looks, we're eight streets ahead of them!"
People who could join the Math Olympiad team were somewhat nerdy.
The five team members from Marymount Academy on the opposite side naturally could not avoid this.
Especially Caroline, the eleventh-grade female team member among them, who was not pretty to begin with, also did not wear makeup.
Her greasy face had many freckles and acne. Coupled with the braces for her teeth and a messy long hair, she looked completely unkempt.
Relatively speaking, Medford had Kevin with his hip-hop style, and the extremely attractive Mike and Cady.
In terms of fashion and looks, the Medford Math Olympiad team was indeed an undisputed complete victory.
"Don't comment on other people's appearances, it's very impolite..."
After hearing Kevin's words, Ms. Sharon smiled and shook her head, advising: "Focus more on the upcoming competition, don't be careless."
Then, seeing the old professor presiding over the competition come on stage, Ms. Sharon also went to the audience seats below.
And in the Medford answer area, the team members who had been a bit nervous earlier relaxed because of Kevin's antics.
It had to be said that although Kevin's words were very impolite, they made a lot of sense.
Once the host and the two competing teams were ready, the final championship battle also began.
As the first and second place schools in last year's Math Olympiad competition, both naturally had some capabilities.
In the first round of rotating questions in the championship match, both teams, without exception, answered all questions correctly.
Among them, Mike, while answering the questions correctly, once again maintained his persona as a "normal" high school student very well.
"A very wonderful performance!" The old professor presiding over the competition smiled and praised.
The rotating question bank used in the finals had naturally increased in difficulty by another level.
For both teams to still be able to answer all questions correctly under such circumstances, it could be imagined that both sides' team members must have put a lot of effort into Math Olympiad.
"So now, does anyone want to challenge the'Sudden Death'?" The old professor asked before the second quick-answer round began.
The "Sudden Death" was the latest one-on-one individual challenge mode introduced in this year's Math Olympiad competition.
That is, one person represents an entire team to answer questions, and only one question decides the winner.
Using this mode to replace the quick-answer session, however, had some elements of gambling.
Of course, if neither team proposed it, then the competition would still continue according to the quick-answer process.
However, this novel competition system was something that Kevin and Captain Carter from the Marymount Math Olympiad team would naturally not miss.
Moreover, Carter had observed the Medford Math Olympiad team for so long before.
So, as soon as the old professor's inquiry ended, Carter and Kevin both raised their hands one after another.
"Our side chooses to use the'Sudden Death' right!" After receiving a nod from the old professor, Captain Carter from Marymount Academy spoke confidently.
As he spoke, he unconsciously glanced at Mike.
"Very good, so Medford, do you have any opinions?" The old professor turned to ask.
Actually, in the championship match, as long as one team chose it, the condition for a "Sudden Death" was already met.
The old professor's question was more to confirm Kevin's motive for raising his hand.
"The opponent's proposal is exactly what I want, we also want to challenge the'Sudden Death'!" Kevin, lowering his arm, said loudly, meeting the challenge head-on.
Seeing that both sides chose to challenge the "Sudden Death," the old professor smiled again and said: "Then please, both team captains, choose your opponent's player whom you will challenge."
The rule for the "Sudden Death" challenge was that the opposing player would help choose the player from their own team to compete.
To a certain extent, this mode greatly tested the eyesight of both team captains, as well as luck.