The 2026 MATHCOUNTS West Alabama Regional Competition Sponsored by Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa Clone

The MATHCOUNTS Tuscaloosa Chapter held its annual competition at the University of Alabama on Feb 28, 2026. Six schools participated in the event, including The Capitol School, Eastwood Middle School, Holy Spirit Catholic School, Northridge Middle School, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle, and Westlawn Middle School. The event had three rounds of written tests and an oral count-down competition among the top-ranked students; see the event photos at the bottom of this webpage.

Thanks to our sponsors

We want to extend our deepest gratitude to our sponsor Nucor Steel Tuscaloosa, Inc., who has been our long-term sponsor since the 1990s.

Thanks to our partner

We thank the strong support from the Division of Community Affairs and the Center of Community-based Program (CCBP) at the University of Alabama. We thank Tuscaloosa City School (TCS) Superintendent’s Office for full support, recruiting schools and promoting the competitions. We appreciate the Tuscaloosa County School System (TCSS) administration to promote MATHCOUNTS competitions among its schools. We appreciate the continuing support from Barefield College of Arts & Sciences, the Lee J. Styslinger Jr. College of Engineering, and the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Department of Mathematics for providing financial support and competition venue for the MATHCOUNTS 2026 regional competition.

Team awards

1st place: Northridge Middle School, Coach: Mr. Jason Palmer
2nd place: Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle, Coach: Ms. Allison Sanders
3rd place: Holy Spirit Middle School, Coach: Mr. Gibbons and Mrs. Gibbons

Count-down round: Top three contestants:

1st place: Esad Altindis, Northridge Middle School
2nd place: Ashley Dong, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle
3rd place (semifinalists): Max Liang, Northridge Middle School and Ali Rostamkhani, Northridge Middle School

Individual awards, all grades:

1st place: Esad Altindis, Northridge Middle School
2nd place: Hayden Nguyen, Northridge Middle School
3rd place: Ashley Dong, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle
4th place: Max Liang, Northridge Middle School
5th place: Andrew Sun, Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle
6th place: Lily Wang, Northridge Middle School
7th place: Ali Rostamkhani, Northridge Middle School
8th place: David Roberts, The Capitol School

Advancement to the MATHCOUNTS state competition

Two school teams and two individuals have been selected to advance to the 2026 MATHCOUNTS state competition.
Two top-ranked teams:

Northridge Middle School, Coach: Mr. Jason Palmer with students: Esad Altindis, Max Liang, Hayden Nguyen, and Ali Rostamkhani.
Tuscaloosa Magnet Schools – Middle, Coach: Ms. Allison Sanders with students: Ashley Dong, Beren Melouk, Maxwell Snow, Andrew Sun.

Two top-ranked individuals (outside the selected teams):

Lily Wang, Northridge Middle School.
David Roberts, The Capitol School.

MATHCOUNTS STEM Engagement Awards

The STEM Engagement Awards were presented to the teams led by Dr. Lina Pu and Dr. Qiang Zhang, in recognition of organizing STEM demos for the MATHCOUNTS West Alabama Regional Competition.