Suncrest Middle School

Suncrest Middle School

Chris Maloney, Coach
Coach Christina Maloney received a B.S. in microbiology from Penn State University and a master’s degree in education from West Virginia University. This is her sixteenth year teaching science - fifteen in middle school. Coach Maloney worked in pharmaceutical research before pursuing her real passion - getting students excited about science.  Her hobbies include biking (with a goal of riding at least once every month of the year -not easy to do in West Virginia), visiting and hiking in as many National Parks as possible, crafting, and family time. With adult children in Boston and Colorado, travel has also become a hobby. She is excited to have her team be a part of the National Science Bowl for the twelfth year in a row.

Sanketh Guppi
Sanketh “Sunny” Guppy is an eighth-grader at Suncrest Middle School in Morgantown, West Virginia.  He loves playing basketball for the Suncrest Middle School basketball team.  He also loves solving math problems and exploring new math concepts.  Sanketh is a two time National MATHCOUNTS qualifier as he is heading to National MATHCOUNTS the second year in a row. His favorite subjects in science include biology, chemistry, and physics.  His goals for the next year include qualifying for American Invitational Mathematics Examination and ASABO.  He is very excited and looks forward to competing at the National Science Bowl this year.

Ryan Karim
Ryan Karim is a twelve year old in Morgantown, West Virginia. He is on Team A of Suncrest Middle School, along with Caden Yao, Sanketh Guppi, Amari Knights, and Pranav Sure. His hobbies are baseball and band, where he plays the baritone. He is on a travel team in baseball, the Mon River Mudcats. Ryan is also competing in the 2021-2022 National MATHCOUNTS Competition. In fourth grade, he won his state math field day competition, and in fifth and sixth  grade, he along with his friend Siddharth Rathinam advanced to the Vex IQ world championships. Ryan is very excited about the Science Bowl Competition and can't wait!

Caden Yao
Caden Yao is a seventh-grader at Suncrest Middle School. He attends multiple after-school activities, such as the MATHCOUNTS program hosted by Mr.Butler, and the Science Bowl program hosted by Coach Maloney. Caden is also participating in MATHCOUNTS this year and will be taking a trip to Washington D.C. right after Science Bowl. Two of his teammates, Ryan Karim and Sunni Guppi, will also be competing in MATHCOUNTS with him. Caden loves mountain biking and hockey. He is in a team that has won every single game in the season. He is in TAG class and in Math 1, and he enjoys both of those classes. His goal for Science Bowl is to help his team get into the elimination rounds.

Amari Knights
Amari Knights is a seventh-grader at Suncrest Middle School in Morgantown, West Virginia. He absolutely loves school. His favorite subjects are science, math, and history. Outside of school Amari enjoys playing basketball and tennis, and also plays the piano and violin. In his free time, Amari hangs out with friends and plays video games. He especially loves playing murder mystery games. He aspires to be an astronaut. He wants to be a Mars colonist. Science Bowl has taught him discipline, teamwork, and persistence.

Pranav Sure
Pranav Sure, a seventh-grader at Suncrest Middle School has a passion for science: learning through books, videos, and nature. He loves to learn about physics, chemistry, and the working parts of objects. Earth science and astronomy are favorites too. All this curiosity led to the Science Bowl. Another passion is playing the violin in the school orchestra and performing in many concerts. Another interest is spelling. To challenge himself, Pranav tries to spell unfamiliar words using word root and prefix knowledge. He has participated in the county Spelling Bee. Just as words can be separated into roots and prefixes, music can be broken into rhythm and tone leading him to a longstanding pastime- playing piano for three years. With his interest in piano music, he has improvised pieces.  Coding is another long standing pastime. In the past five years, he has coded games, websites, and programs to automate tasks. His latest program,  Study Buddy, helps you to study and stay organized.