Tourney champs, design, robot skills – 574C Joe Kelsheimer, Nick Murphy, Evan Rassi and Micah Rassi.

SYRACUSE — On Saturday, Dec. 15, 12 Wawasee robotics teams competed at the NWI Region Robotics Rumble at Portage High School. Wawasee’s 11 high school teams and one middle school team battled 38 other teams from Indiana and two from Illinois.

After qualifications, 10 of the 12 teams were selected as alliance partners for the finals. Five teams moved into the quarterfinals from the round of 16. These same five teams advanced to the semifinals.

574C allied with a team from Zionsville and 574D allied with a team from Crown Point High School, to face each other in the finals. This is the fourth tournament in a row where C & D were with or against each other in the finals. 574C was declared tournament champion because the team allianced with 574D was disqualified for rules violation, nullifying their score.

The finals included some of the most fierce competition seen this year. A rare double high park was witnessed for the first time in Wawasee’s season. “The most points that can be scored in a match are gained by playing ‘King of the Hill’ on a small platform that is designed to only fit one bot,” said head coach, Jed Wandland. “I watched it happened and I could not believe it. Spectators came down from the stands to get a closer look at the double high park.”

574H brought home the middle school skills championship trophy. Evan Brower is a team by himself. While he does get assistance from the other robotics teams, Brower has built, programed, competed, and drives by himself. He is also part of First Lego League robotics team at Milford Middle School. They just recently competed in the FLL State Robotics Tournament in Fort Wayne. “Evan’s work is truly impressive,” said Wandland, “I can’t wait to see what he does in the future.”

Wawasee brought home an astounding five awards at the event. In addition to the tournament championship, 574C also won their first design award of the season, an award given to a team that demonstrates the best engineering process at the event. This award is based on an engineering notebook written by the teams and an interview in which teams discuss their process. They also won the robot skills championship for the fifth tournament in a row. 574H won the middle school robot skills award as previously mentioned and, the judges award was presented to 574K who was lead by Andrea Mickley Saturday. The judges award is a special recognition by the judges at the event for a team’s exceptional efforts.

Wandland’s final remarks were, “The most awe inspiring thing about our students is their character. They will drop anything they’re working on to help another team in need, even if they’re not from our school. The students exemplify everything a competitor should be and that character is being recognized at our tournaments.”

Team results: (team names and members listed at end)

Awards:

Tournament champions — 574C “Centurion” — Micah Rassi, Evan Rassi, Joe Kelsheimer, Nick Murphy

Design award — 574C “Centurion” — Micah Rassi, Evan Rassi, Joe Kelsheimer, Nick Murphy

Judges award — 574K “Athena” — Andrea Mickley, Makenna Tharp, Norah Miller

Robot skills champion — 574C “Centurion” — Micah Rassi, Evan Rassi, Joe Kelsheimer, Nick Murphy

Robot skills champion — Middle School — 574H “Samurai” — Evan Brower

Team list:

574A “Marines” — Even Gerding, Joey Sunday

574B “Berserker” — Anah Sommers, Alivia Stidams, Adrieanna Yoder

574C “Centurion” — Micah Rassi, Evan Rassi, Joe Kelsheimer, Nick Murphy

574D “Immortal” — Cory Dunivan, Noah Beckner, Jack Collins, Wesley Hays, Nathan Smith

574E “Legion” — Connor Byrd, Ryan Scott, Jackson Coverstone

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

574G “Iron Knight” — Colten Edger, Harry Doss, Brian Schlabach, Jossie Coy

574H “Samurai” — Evan Brower

574J “Xerxes” — Ethan Hays, Michael Davis, Gage Beezley

574K “Athena” — Andrea Mickley, Makenna Tharp, Norah Miller

574M “Amazon” — Alison Cole, Keegan Cook

574N “Ninja” — Tess Fancil, Taylor Fiedeke

Wawasee Iron Pride Robotics is on winter break until Friday, Jan. 18, at the Kalahari Classic in Sandusky, Ohio.