Dartmouth High School junior Steven Wei “really wasn’t expecting” to win the Invitational Mathematics Meet at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Oct. 20. 

But the win, a first for Dartmouth High School, cemented Wei as one of the state’s top math competitors, and a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming math league meets. 

“There were other good schools there … I was like, there totally could be someone else that scored even higher than me,” Wei said. “It was so nice, everyone was clapping. The work that I put in, it really paid off for this tournament.”

That work includes spending Wednesday evenings at the high school practicing with the team, as well as going over former problems from the invitational, albeit problems that were close to 25 years old. 

Math teacher and advisor to the math team Donald York said the school has never had someone quite like Wei or his younger brother. York compared the pair to Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippin. 

Not only is Wei’s first place finish unprecedented, but the team as a whole finished in 6th place, another record for the school. While the individual award was a welcome surprise, Wei said he was primarily thinking about the team’s performance during the test. 

“Overall, every point matters, every player on our team contributed a roughly equal amount,” Wei said. 

The WPI invitational allows a team of four from each school, and about 30 schools completed. When Dartmouth’s team walked in, Wei said they were “pretty intimidated,” as the sets of tables filled up the entire sports and recreation center at the university. Strong teams, like the Advanced Math and Science Academy from Marlborough, also competed, adding to the nerves. 

“The pressure really gets to you when you’re in the test,” Wei said. 

The test covers various subject areas across 11 questions, going up to, but not including, calculus. Wei said the very first problem, about polynomials tripped him up, but he was able to move on and focus on the other problems. He finished with 17 out of a possible 21 points. 

Wei hopes to translate the team’s success, as well his own, into a fruitful season in the Southeastern Mass Conference Math League this year, and ideally in the state championship. 

“All I can say is that when we go to these more challenging tournaments, it’s a good way to evaluate where you are, and we can only hope to do even better next time,” Wei said.