The 228 participants at the National Competition are middle school students (6th, 7th, 8th graders) from around the country who qualified through local and state competitions. There are four rounds in the main competition, three of which are written rounds and take place in the morning.

The ESPN broadcast will focus on the fourth round of the competition, known as the Countdown Round. This is a fast-paced, oral round that involves only the top 12 students from the morning's written competition. I've been helping to edit MATHCOUNTS questions for several years - they're hard and it's amazing to watch how quickly the kids get them right.

The broadcast will be re-aired (along with last year's competition) at the following times:

1. Friday, June 11 on ESPN2 at 11am ET - 2003 and 2004 MATHCOUNTS National Competitions back to back

2. Saturday, June 5 on ESPN2 at 11pm ET - 2004 MATHCOUNTS National Competition