Matthew Zizelmann and Zachery Frie, eighth-grade students at the Tamaqua Area Middle School, were supposed to join their classmates on a fun trip to Knoebels Grove on the last day of school on May 25.

Instead, they were running numbers and equations through their heads, along with 93 other students from schools within Intermediate Unit 29, participating in a Math 24 Challenge.When asked about giving up the class trip, both young men said they had more fun playing the "math game." Zizelmann won the final death round challenge, with Frie coming in an extremely close second for the overall trophy in the seventh/eighth grade division. Last year, those positions were reversed.They, along with two other Tamaqua students, Harry Swinehart (seventh grade) and Alec Nattress (fifth grade) will now move on to the state championships scheduled for June 15 in Harrisburg. All four students took home gold medals in specific challenges. The IU will send nine students to Harrisburg.The Math 24 Challenge is open to students in grades four through eight. Typically, according to Tamaqua adviser Megan Frantz, it starts with a classroom challenge. The top four finishers then compete at a grade level challenge. Top students from the grade level go on to the district level, and the top two in their grade level, in each individual school district, advance to the Intermediate Unit level. This will be the first year for a statewide challenge.It starts with a flash card containing four numbers. The card is placed on a desk or table, turned face up. Participants then use the four basic principles of math (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) to arrive at the number 24 in three steps. Once they have the answer, participants touch the card.Each number on the card must be used in the equation, but only once. Points are awarded based on the difficulty level of finding the answer. For example, the card contains the numbers 8, 4, 8 and 2. One of the answers is 8+8=16, 4x2=8, then add those two answers, 16+8 to equal 24. It took about 10 seconds to write that example and answer, which is 9 seconds longer than it took Zizelmann and Frie to supply the answer.If you think that was "super easy," according to Frie, then you can move on to the next difficulty level, which uses two-digit numbers, or try one of the other seven editions, such as those containing fractions, decimals or algebra equations.Zizelmannn notes the competition between him and Frie is always fun, as the two have been friends since they met in a sixth grade reading class. They compete against each other in the lunch room, study halls or just driving somewhere in the same car.Frantz, who is Tamaqua Middle School's Title I Math teacher, says the game helps students "realize they can do math. It not only builds skills, but also confidence."In addition to the four gold medal winners, Tamaqua students participating in the I.U. level event were: Katryna Williams, Jacob Mavricz, Brady Sherry, Mason Gerber, Jesse Gormley and Tyler Haskins.Tamaqua's participation in the competition was made possible through the Karen Mateyak Scholarship, awarded through the Blue Raider Foundation and John Mateyak.