Three robotics teams to compete at state this week

Tri-City United Schools robotics program continues to perform well with three teams making it to the state robotics tournament at St. Cloud Community and Technical College’s River’s Edge Event Center on Feb. 27 and 28.

TCU Robotics Head Coach Jeffery Ballman said, “Please congratulate all of these teams as they work hard to represent our TCU middle schools and TCU High School at the state level of competition! We are very proud to have three of our five teams moving on to the state level.

High School

The high school Gear Train team, comprised of Captain Mavrick Budin, Coder Francisco Mendez, Lead Designer Hank Sladek, and Engineering Notebook Designers, Public Relations Specialists and all around assistants Camden Flicek, Zach Holicky, and Brennen Russek, is the first team heading to state.

Ballman said, “These boys have been working extremely hard all season overcoming all kinds of obstacles and earning enough points yesterday to increase their state skills ranking to 39 out of 111 teams in our state. This is the first step in their goal of qualifying for Worlds in Dallas Texas in April. Please congratulate them as they continue on their journey again demonstrating some excellent Titan Pride!”

Middle School

The middle school Distructicons team, comprised of Jake Ripp, Gavin Espersen, Logan Krocak Odin Wright, and Easton Gessler, is the second team going to state.

Ballman said, “This team has been working really hard throughout our season competing against high school teams all season long and learning from those teams. They have developed both autonomous programming for both tournament and skills play, and have honed in their skills to create an overall solid defensive robot. Through this work they have worked their way up to a ranking of 27th out of 73 teams in our state.”

The middle school Duckinators team, comprised of  Wesley Power, Isabella Keltgen, Daniel Mendez, Paul Juarez, Jazmin Chacon, and Faith Pedroza, is the third team heading to state competition.

Ballman said, “This team earned a state invite back in December for their overall dedication to robotics and perseverance in the skills arena. They are currently ranked 54th out of 73 teams. They are currently working on a redesign of their bot to create a robot that can effectively collect our completion components and be a Titan force in the competition arena.”

Judges Award

Congratulations also goes out to robotics team Mechanical Kanibals, composed of Sophia Urchel, Georgie Bell, Lauren Ballman, and Rain Zellner. Ballman said, “Lauren and Rain represented the team at the Albert Lea tournament and brought home the team’s second Judges Award. Please congratulate the team on this accomplishment! Way to go girls, an excellent display of true Titan Pride!”

The team earns the judge’s award for meeting the following guidelines:

• Team displays special attributes, exemplary effort, or perseverance at the event.
• Team stands out to judge volunteers as being deserving of special recognition.
• Team interview demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, professionalism, and a student-centered ethos.

See the results of the state competiton in the next print edition of the Montgomery Messenger. To not miss any news in the future, subscribe online today!