Thanks to five dedicated students who quizzed themselves during lunch breaks and after school, Terra Linda High School gained Marin's top honors in recent state and national mathematics contests.

Seniors Michael Macievich and Scott Trimble, and Junior Alex Weisiger were the only three-person team in Marin to break a collective 300 score in the American High School Mathematics Exam.

The 312 score earned by the Terra Linda trio beat out Marin's second-place team, San Domenico School in San Anselmo, which scored 295.

Weisiger's 117 individual score was tops in Marin.

Terra Linda followed up by gaining top county honors in the recent California Mathematics League competition.

The three students were joined by Karin Melnick, a senior, and William Pritchard, a junior, in gaining a 139 score to beat Marin's runner-up, Sir Francis Drake, which scored 108.

The students' accomplishments were especially noteworthy because they prepared for the contests during lunch-hours and after school, said Jim Young, a Terra Linda math teacher.

"It's a great thing because it shows students can get a top-notch education at a public school if they apply themselves," Young said.

©1995 Marin Independent Journal