Team 574C “Centurion” tournament champion, receives the skills award, first in world in skills challenge, qualifies for the Indiana VEX Robotics State Championships. From left are Nick Murphy, Joe Kelsheimer, Micah Rassi and Evan Rassi.
Team 574M “Amazon” tournament champions and alliance captains, qualifies for the Indiana VEX Robotics State Championships, 354th in world in skills challenge. On the right are Keegan Cook and Alison Cole.

SYRACUSE — Wawasee’s robotics team broke the robotics skills world record twice, won the tournament championship, robotics skills champion, and qualified another team for state in the Wawasee High School varsity gym Saturday, Nov. 17.

“This was an amazing tournament,” said Jed Wandland, head coach of the robotics team. “Wawasee took the top four spots in the tourney. Competition keeps getting better and better. The Wawasee robotics team is a powerhouse and one of the largest robotics programs in the state. This is our sixth year of robotics competition. The mentorship among Wawasee students to help each other become better is the best part of the robotics program.”

The finals came down to one point. As alliance captain, 574M chose 574C to join them as number one seed. 574D allied with 491A from Pioneer Jr.-Sr. High of Royal Center, to upset the second seed, Wawasee’s 574F and 1233F from Crown Point, to meet 574M and C in the finals. In the final round, the autonomous segment ended in a tie. 574M’s alliance quickly fell behind, but throughout the two minute battle 574M and C slowly pulled ahead. “If we had two more seconds to complete a low park, we would have won,” said Nathan Smith, driver for 574D. “The finals was a real nail biter and we weren’t really certain at first who came out on top,” said Iron Pride Assistant Coach Julie Hays.

The tournament was made up of two events, VEX VRC (high school and middle school with metal robots) and VEX IQ (elementary and middle school with plastic robots). Schools competing in VEX VRC; Pioneer Jr.-Sr. High – Royal Center, Plymouth High, Lincoln Jr. High – Plymouth, Jay County High – Portland, Crown Point High, Winamac Community High and Portage High. Schools competing at VEX IQ; Hamilton Heights MS – Arcadia, West Jay County MS – Dunkirk, Sacred Heart Elementary – Warsaw, Caston Elementary – Fulton, Argos Community Jr.-Sr. High, Lincoln Middle School – Logansport, Holy Family Elementary – South Bend, Riverside Intermediate – Plymouth, Nappanee Elementary, Colonel John Wheeler MS – Crown Point, Memorial Park MS – Fort Wayne.

Wawasee had all 11 teams in the finals bracket. The Iron Pride also had first, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th and 14th place finishes in skills challenge, a time trial to see how many points the robot can score by itself in one minute driver and one minute autonomous periods. Team 574C is ranked first in the world in this challenge this week and; 574D is 64th, 574J is 306th, 574A is 312th, 574M is 354th, 574K is 360th, and 574E is 645th. Last year, there were 10,000 teams in the world in skills challenge.

Team results:

574M “Amazon” — tournament champions and alliance captains, first place, 354th in world in skills challenge — Alison Cole, Keegan Cook

574C “Centurion” — tournament champion, second place, robot skills champion, state qualifier, first in world in skills challenge — Micah Rassi, Evan Rassi, Joe Kelsheimer, Nick Murphy

574F “Barbarian” — third place, semifinals — Vanessa Wright, Mykie Moses, Tess Helfers

574D “Immortal” — fourth place, finals, seventh robot skills, 64th in world in skills challenge — Cory Dunivan, Noah Beckner, Jack Collins, Wesley Hays, Nathan Smith

574J “Xerxes” — 15th place, quarterfinals, eighth robotics skills, 306th in world in skills challenge — Ethan Hays, Tyler Bailey, Gage Beezley

574E “Legion” — 16th place, semifinals, 14th robotics skills, 645th in world in skills challenge — Connor Byrd, Ryan Scott, Jackson Coverstone

574A “Marines” — 22nd place, finals round of 16, ninth robotics skills, 312th in world in skills challenge — Joey Sunday, Even Gerding

574H “Samurai” — 23rd place, finals round of 16 — Evan Brower

574G “Iron Knight” — 27th place, finals round of 16 — Colten Edger, Harry Doss, Brian Schlabach, Jossie Coy

574K “Athena” — 29th place, finals round of 16, 10th robotics skills, 360th in world in skills challenge — Makenna Tharp, Norah Miller, Andrea Mickley

574B “Berserker” — 32nd place, finals round of 16 — Anah Sommers, Alivia Stidams, Adrieanna Yoder

Next tournament is Saturday, Dec. 8, at West Jay County Middle School, Dunkirk.

574D allied with 491A winning their semifinal match, by high and low parking for bonus points.
Pictured from left are 1233F (Crown Point High), 491A (Pioneer Jr.-Sr. High, Royal Center), and 574D (Wawasee), in background is 574F (Wawasee).