SOLON, Ohio -- Solon High School is celebrating an impressive performance by its chess teams at the 2024 National High School (K–12) Chess Championships April 5-7 in Baltimore.
On Monday (April 15), Superintendent Fred Bolden told the Solon Board of Education that the school had two teams finish in the top 20 overall.
The school’s delegation of 13 student players competed in various sections, he said.
The team of Gabriel Xiong, Henri Van Zandweghe, Minghao Gu and Varun Sathyajeeth finished 14th in the highly competitive championship section.
In addition, the team of Grace Zhao, Michael Lerner, Rohan Sahoo, Tyler Stevens and Vihaan Shah earned a 16th-place finish in the under-1200 section.
These are the members of Solon High School’s two chess teams that finished in the top 20 overall at the 2024 National High School (K-12) Chess Championships. From left, they are Wesley Lai, Ben Mitchell, Henri Van Zandweghe, coach Tony Dunlap, Gabriel Xiong, Varun Sathyajeeth, Maxwell Shuster, Minghao Gu, Erik Pilaev, Tyler Stevens, Vihaan Shah, Grace Zhao, Rohan Sahoo and Michael Lerner.(Photo Courtesy of Solon City Schools)
“We are incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication of our student chess players,” Solon High School Principal Erin Short said in a news release.
“To have two teams finish in the top 20 nationally is a tremendous accomplishment that speaks to the strength of our chess program.
“Our students put in countless hours of practice and study to reach this level of competition. They’ve truly earned these accomplishments through their passion for the game and commitment to excellence.”
Bolden said to have two teams finish in the top 20 nationally “really speaks to the program that we have, the passion that the kids have for chess, and our coaching staff to be able to get the best out of them to perform at this kind of level.”
“Congratulations to all of the Comet chess team members and coach Tony Dunlap, who has done a tremendous job for us for a number of years,” Bolden said.
The national competition drew a record 1,860 players from 37 states, the news release stated.
The tournament featured more than 40 chess masters, making it one of the most competitive scholastic chess events in the country.
Samuel Joo, an eighth-grader at Solon Middle School, has qualified for the MathCounts national competition in Washington, D.C.(Photo Courtesy of Solon City Schools)
National MathCounts qualifier
Also on Monday, it was announced that Samuel Joo, an eighth-grader at Solon Middle School, is one of only four students from Ohio who have qualified for the prestigious MathCounts national competition in Washington, D.C.
Samuel finished second among 171 competitors at the state-level MathCounts event and is only the fifth Solon student ever to qualify for nationals, Bolden said.
Three other Solon Middle School students also placed in the top 16. They are William Hu, who placed seventh; Nathan Liu, who finished 11th; and Archishman Dey, who ended 13th.
William had a strong showing in the individual Countdown Round competition, coming in fourth.
In addition, Orchard Middle School sixth-grader Aayush Sahoo finished eighth at the state competition.
Orchard students Nicole Bao and Olivia Shin also competed.
“We’re incredibly proud of Samuel and all of our students who competed so well at the state MathCounts event, as it speaks to their drive to understand higher-level math concepts,” Solon Middle School Principal Antoine Campbell said in a news release.
“Making it to the national competition is a remarkable achievement, and we know Samuel will represent our school and the state of Ohio with excellence.”
MathCounts is a middle school extracurricular math program aimed at building confidence and improving attitudes about math and problem solving.
Throughout the school year, students participate in a series of local, regional and state-level MathCounts competitions, testing their skills in areas such as algebra, geometry, probability and more.
The top performers at the state level then advance to compete at the national championship.
The students’ success was enhanced through the efforts of Emir Hussain Naduvil Valappil, a Solon High School junior who volunteers to help coach the middle school team members weekly and traveled with them to provide support at the state competition.
Overnight trips approved
In other action, the board approved overnight trips for three teams that have qualified for state or national competition.
The Solon High School Science Olympiad team will travel to The Ohio State University in Columbus for the Science Olympiad State Tournament April 26-27.
The Solon Middle School Academic Challenge team will compete in the Academic Challenge National Tournament May 10-12 in Rosemont, Ill.
And the Solon High School Academic Challenge team will advance to the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence National Scholastic Championship June 7-9 in Reston, Va.
“This is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of our middle school and high school students,” Bolden said. “I’m sure the Science Olympiad team is going to qualify nationally, as well.
“All of them are super teams, elite level, and we are very proud of the work that they do.”
Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun.