If you build it, they will come. It: the Huss Auditorium. Them: eight qualified ninth-grade graph-matchers.

On Tuesday, the annual graph-matching competition commenced. This year, the ninth-grade competitors were joined by the reigning graph-matching champions, and for the first time in the history of the competition, the whole school was in the audience. The assembly incorporated three rounds of “walking, stopping and walking some more,” physics teacher and emcee Scot Hovan said.

It culminated in a final showdown with graph-matching champions from each grade level. The whole event was soundtracked by physics teacher Karissa Baker’s specially curated graph-matching playlist.

To match a graph, participants have to try to correspond their movements in front of a motion sensor with a presented position vs. time graph. Each competitor walks on stage with no prior knowledge about the specific graph they have to match. They receive two attempts.

The audience witnessed a combined 16 attempts in the first round, which made them well-equipped coaches. A sea of urgently waving hands directed the students to the perfect starting positions. A thumbs up from the competitor cued Hovan to start running the sensor.

The ninth-graders were observed by their predecessors. Occasionally, Dr. Hovan allowed time for them to recall their experience: “I remember my feet were always faster than the graph was,” sophomore Griffin Roy said. “Good advice,” Dr. Hovan said in response. Before the ninth-grade championship round, the reigning champions made their way backstage to give a pep talk to the two finalists, Liam Burns and Caleb Colton.

As for the results: the lower the correlation number, the better. After a nailbitingly close showdown, Burns and Colton stood under the spotlights and awaited the announcement of the winner. It was a close call, but Burns won. Not by a decimal place, or two, or three, or four. Burns’ victory came down to the fifth decimal place.

“What a great photo-finish at the end there,” physics teacher Joseph Martin said.

Burns’ victory earned the ninth-grade class 50 house cup points. But the reigning champions also had an opportunity to earn points for their own grade, challenging the newly crowned Burns. Ultimately, no one was able to beat him, and Burns was the overall winner- the champion of champions.

“I’m glad the freshman finally got House Cup points,” ninth-grader Iris Bergad said.

Beyond House Cup points, the competition offered students something to get up and cheer for.

“What an amazing energy everyone had,” Martin said. “I’d say overall it was just a fun, nerdy day.”