Owls Top State Mu Alpha Theta Times 4
For the fourth straight year, MUS earned the “Best Overall Team” award in the Mu Alpha Theta State Convention.
The competition was held in the Memphis area for the first time in over 20 years, with White Station High School hosting. Although it was scheduled over Spring Break (March 6-7), math instructors Mr. Darin Clifft and Mrs. Nancy Gates were able to field a cohort with the following students:
Math Bowl Team A: Albert Ding ’26, Abdullah Khawaja ’27, Shay Mukatira ’27, and Ethan Zhao ’26
Math Bowl Team B: Advay Adapa ’27, Carson Alexander ’27, Bill Chiang ’26, and Joseph Zhao ’28
Math Murder Mystery Team: Will Brezina ’27, Kushal Das ’29, Joshua Dong ’27, Caleb Register ’26, and Haadi Ranjha ’27
Math Murder Mystery Team B: Arqish Heerani ’27, Andrew Mao ’31, Ben Park ’29, and Mohid Salman ’29
These young men – assisted by Clifft, Gates, and Math Instructor Steve Gadbois – held Monday afternoon practices for three weeks to prepare for competition.
On March 6, after a quick meeting and pizza, the Owls assembled for the Interschool Competition, in which all team members and one sponsor worked for an hour on a series of puzzles and math problems.
“MUS flooded the zone, with 18 bodies thrown at the problem set, and the team finished in first place for the fourth straight year,” Clifft said.
Next were Speed Math and Mental Math competitions that taxed the students’ ability to solve various problems as efficiently as possible with no calculators and, in the case of Mental Math, all work done in their heads.
At 8:30 p.m. the competition switched to Math Bowl (two Owl teams), Math Murder Mystery (four MUS teams), and Chalk Talk (Owls competed in each of the four competitions). Day one ended at 10 p.m.
Saturday morning began with individual contests in each of the three divisions: MU (Calculus), Alpha (Precalculus), and Theta (Algebra II). After that one-hour competition, the boys segued into the Ciphering competition. Lunch brought more pizza and speeches for state officers. The team ran a slate of officers for the first time and won three of the four positions. This puts MUS in the position of hosting the 2027 Mu Alpha Theta State Convention.
The convention could not have happened without Gates and Clifft volunteering as judges for the various competitions.
RESULTS
Best Overall Team: MUS - fourth straight state championship
Interschool Competition: 1st Place
Poster Competition: 1st Place - Spearheaded by Joseph Zhao ’28 and our first win in this category
Mu Chalk Talk: 1st Place - Ethan Zhao ’26 - The movie Frozen and Newton’s Law of Cooling
Alpha Chalk Talk: 1st Place - Advay Adapa ’27 - Which Hulk movie character was the strongest? (This was Clifft’s personal favorite.)
Theta Chalk Talk: 2nd Place - Kushal Das ’29 - The movie Jurassic Park and exponential growth of the raptor population
Stats Chalk Talk: 1st Place - Abdullah Khawaja ’27 - The Harry Potter movies and probability of wand selection. (This was the first Stats category at the state level.)
Theta Individual: 1st Place - Andrew Mao ’31
Alpha Individual: 3rd Place - Joseph Zhao ’28
Mu Individual: 1st Place - Shay Mukatira ’27, 3rd Place - Caleb Register ’26
Theta Ciphering: 2nd Place - Andrew Mao ’31, 3rd Place - Mohid Salman ’29
Mu Ciphering: 1st Place - Shay Mukatira ’27, 2nd Place - Abdullah Khawaja ’27, 3rd Place -Carson Alexander ’27
Speed Math: 2nd Place - Andrew Mao ’31
Mental Math: 2nd Place - Andrew Mao ’31
Math Bowl: 2nd Place - Albert Ding ’26, Abdullah Khawaja ’27, Shay Mukatira ’27, and Ethan Zhao ’26
State Mu Alpha Theta Officers for the 2026-27 School Year:
President: Abdullah Khawaja ’27
Vice President: Joshua Dong ’27
Treasurer: Carson Alexander ’27
Back
Math Bowl Team A: Albert Ding ’26, Abdullah Khawaja ’27, Shay Mukatira ’27, and Ethan Zhao ’26
Math Bowl Team B: Advay Adapa ’27, Carson Alexander ’27, Bill Chiang ’26, and Joseph Zhao ’28
Math Murder Mystery Team: Will Brezina ’27, Kushal Das ’29, Joshua Dong ’27, Caleb Register ’26, and Haadi Ranjha ’27
Math Murder Mystery Team B: Arqish Heerani ’27, Andrew Mao ’31, Ben Park ’29, and Mohid Salman ’29
These young men – assisted by Clifft, Gates, and Math Instructor Steve Gadbois – held Monday afternoon practices for three weeks to prepare for competition.
On March 6, after a quick meeting and pizza, the Owls assembled for the Interschool Competition, in which all team members and one sponsor worked for an hour on a series of puzzles and math problems.
“MUS flooded the zone, with 18 bodies thrown at the problem set, and the team finished in first place for the fourth straight year,” Clifft said.
Next were Speed Math and Mental Math competitions that taxed the students’ ability to solve various problems as efficiently as possible with no calculators and, in the case of Mental Math, all work done in their heads.
At 8:30 p.m. the competition switched to Math Bowl (two Owl teams), Math Murder Mystery (four MUS teams), and Chalk Talk (Owls competed in each of the four competitions). Day one ended at 10 p.m.
Saturday morning began with individual contests in each of the three divisions: MU (Calculus), Alpha (Precalculus), and Theta (Algebra II). After that one-hour competition, the boys segued into the Ciphering competition. Lunch brought more pizza and speeches for state officers. The team ran a slate of officers for the first time and won three of the four positions. This puts MUS in the position of hosting the 2027 Mu Alpha Theta State Convention.
The convention could not have happened without Gates and Clifft volunteering as judges for the various competitions.
RESULTS
Best Overall Team: MUS - fourth straight state championship
Interschool Competition: 1st Place
Poster Competition: 1st Place - Spearheaded by Joseph Zhao ’28 and our first win in this category
Mu Chalk Talk: 1st Place - Ethan Zhao ’26 - The movie Frozen and Newton’s Law of Cooling
Alpha Chalk Talk: 1st Place - Advay Adapa ’27 - Which Hulk movie character was the strongest? (This was Clifft’s personal favorite.)
Theta Chalk Talk: 2nd Place - Kushal Das ’29 - The movie Jurassic Park and exponential growth of the raptor population
Stats Chalk Talk: 1st Place - Abdullah Khawaja ’27 - The Harry Potter movies and probability of wand selection. (This was the first Stats category at the state level.)
Theta Individual: 1st Place - Andrew Mao ’31
Alpha Individual: 3rd Place - Joseph Zhao ’28
Mu Individual: 1st Place - Shay Mukatira ’27, 3rd Place - Caleb Register ’26
Theta Ciphering: 2nd Place - Andrew Mao ’31, 3rd Place - Mohid Salman ’29
Mu Ciphering: 1st Place - Shay Mukatira ’27, 2nd Place - Abdullah Khawaja ’27, 3rd Place -Carson Alexander ’27
Speed Math: 2nd Place - Andrew Mao ’31
Mental Math: 2nd Place - Andrew Mao ’31
Math Bowl: 2nd Place - Albert Ding ’26, Abdullah Khawaja ’27, Shay Mukatira ’27, and Ethan Zhao ’26
State Mu Alpha Theta Officers for the 2026-27 School Year:
President: Abdullah Khawaja ’27
Vice President: Joshua Dong ’27
Treasurer: Carson Alexander ’27
Embracing a Bold Vision. Building a Bright Future.
Memphis University School is a college-preparatory, independent, day school for boys in Grades 6-12.
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