Students from Eyer and Lower Macungie middle schools and St. Ann School are among the 282 students from 28 middle schools from five counties competing in the 28^th annual Lehigh Valley MATHCOUNTS this morning.

The event will be held at Trexler Middle School, 851 N. 15th Street, Allentown, beginning with a written test from 9:15 a.m. until 11:45 a.m. in the gym.

The top 10 scoring students will face off in the Countdown Round, a "Jeopardy" style oral competition, at 1 p.m. in the school auditorium.

Organized by the Lehigh Valley Chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers for students in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Luzerne and Monroe counties, the Feb. 4 event is one of 23 Pennsylvania competitions.

Regional winners advance to the state competition on March 23 and 24 held in Harrisburg.

A National MATHCOUNTS Competition will take place May 5 through 8 this year in Washington, D.C. with Raytheon Corporation as the title sponsor.

Prizes at the Lehigh Valley competition include scholarships for math and/or science courses at Cedar Crest College, Moravian College, Lafayette College, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Northampton County Community College.