Iron Chargers 1st year team earns spot in State Tournament

Nick Mickelson, the Iron Chargers Robotics Team Advisor, gives us a quick rundown of the happenings thus far for each team.

The 2019-20 season for Iron Chargers Robotics has brought both highs and lows for each of the two teams in our first couple of tournaments.

Team 4149C (which consists of Elise Monson, Layla Jelle, Bailey Watne, and Clayton Suchoski) has seen a great level of improvement from the Imagine! Create! Succeed! Tournament in Albany, MN, that was held on November 23rd to the Pioneer Robotics Tournament in Thief River Falls, MN, that was held December 7th. 

In the Albany tournament, Team 4149C took home the Think Award which is presented to a team that has developed and effectively used quality programs as part of their strategy to solve the game challenge. Their overall record during the qualification round was 3-2-2 which left them ranked 14th out of 42 teams. They finished 5th overall in the individual skills challenge and were selected by the 8th ranked team in the elimination round. Unfortunately, they lost their first elimination round match 15-13, but put up a good fight scoring 12 of their teams 13 points.

In the Thief River Falls tournament, Team 4149C won the Amaze Award which is presented to a team that has built a competition robot that clearly demonstrates overall quality including a solid mechanical design along with demonstrated robot programming, robustness, strong performance, and consistency. Their overall record during the qualification round was 5-1-0 which got them the 4th overall rank out of 48 teams. They finished 11th overall in the individual skills challenge and selected a team from Fosston High School to alliance with during the elimination round. Having earned a first round bye, they were eventually defeated in the quarterfinals by a score of 23-14.

Team 4149G (which consists of Reece Sundberg, Devon Dixon, Christian Loken, Callie Loken, and Chelsie Nelson) has been learning more and more each day as a team of first year members to the Iron Chargers. They competed in both the Fisher Robotics Tournament in Fisher, MN, that was held on November 23rd and the Pioneer Robotics Tournament in Thief River Falls, MN, that was held recently. 

In the Fisher tournament, Team 4149G demonstrated some of their skills by finishing the qualification round with a record of 4-4-0 which earned them the 13th overall rank out of 36 teams. They finished 5th overall in the individual skills challenge which (unofficially) earned them a spot at the MN State Tournament. They were selected by the 10th ranked team from Win-E-Mac High School to alliance during the elimination round were they unfortunately were defeated in their first match 9-3.

In the Thief River Falls tournament, Team 4149G was faced with a bigger challenge and had to overcome a few obstacles with their driving strategy. However, they were able to put together a competitive individual skills challenge score which ranked 9th overall in skills out of the 48 teams competing. They finished the qualification round with a record of 2-4-0 which ranked 33rd overall. They were not selected to an alliance in the elimination round, which ended the day for the team.

With generous donations from several local businesses, the team has been able to purchase new team shirts and supplies to improve the build quality of their robots. We are so fortunate to have a wonderful community that supports our teams each and every year!  We are also looking forward to a strong showing at the Win-E-Mac VRC Tournament on January 18th at the Win-E-Mac High School!