Iron Chargers receive invite to State Robotics competition
Tue, 11/21/2017 - 10:05am
admin
Last Saturday, the Grygla Iron Chargers found out that all of their hard work and late nights are paying off! The teams not only won numerous awards at their competition in Albany, but also received an invite to the State Robotics competition in February.
This year, the two teams are Team 4149C: Trystan Jelle, Abby Kiesow, Jake Ahlbeck and Elise Monson, and Team 4149G: Olivia Tykward, Julianne Nordby and Bailey Watne.
Saturday’s competition was in Albany, Minnesota. The competition started out with the two Iron Chargers teams going head to head in their first qualification match. The G team came out on top and ended up with a 5-0 record. The C team was 4-1, with their only loss being from their own G team! The C team ended up winning the skills challenge and by the end of the day had 101 points – the highest of the day for any team. Actually, they have the 4th highest score in the state – only topped by 3 Mankato teams!
At the end of qualifications, the C team was in 1st place and the G team was in 3rd. The C team choose to ally with their own G team for the finals that afternoon. That alliance won the quarter-finals and advanced them to the semi-finals. The finals are best of three and the Iron Chargers lost 2-1 in the finals, but had a great day and both teams received state invitations being they were 2nd place tournament finalists. The State competition is February 2-3 in St. Cloud at the River’s Edge Convention Center.
In addition to the C team being named the Robot Skills Champions, Team 4149G won the Excellence Award – the highest award of the day!
Robotics advisor, Isaac Kvasager, says, “It was a lot of fun going to Albany again. We missed out due to local tournament overlap last year. We have gotten to know some of the teams and coaches in Central MN and it was fun to see them again. They host an excellent tournament. We have sealed our state spots so now we have a bit more freedom to experiment with different ideas for the state competition.”
Up next for the robotics team is a competition in Thief River Falls on Saturday, December 2nd.