Robotics Team Qualifies for State
By Naomi Sullivan
The Bluejay robotics teams competed at Omaha Central on Saturday, November 8, and team 71414A came home with the design award and a seventh-place finish. The Smooth Operators consists of Andrew Lienemann, Makayla Shefl, and Brandon Thomspon.
On receiving the design award, the judges commented that the team had a strong interview and well documented design process in their very thorough design notebook.
“The day started off bad by having to replace a drive train motor but the team bounced back to be very competitive and finish the day winning the Design Award,” Lienemann said.
“I am so proud of how much effort this team has put into this season already. This award means they have already earned a spot at the VEX Nebraska state robotics tournament to be held at Omaha North in late February,” sponsor and coach of the Robotic Bluejays, Treva Dostal said.
In the first match, the 71414A were paired with Gross Catholic and took the win straight away with 115 points, and their opponents from Omaha Skutt and Westview only had 12 points.
Going into the second match with confidence, the Bluejays were paired with Nebraska Lutheran and took another win with 70 points and their rivals from Skutt with nine points.
On a winning streak for the day, in the third match, Pierce and another team from Skutt took the other teams of Ravenna and Platte County High from Platte City, Missouri, down with 88-30.
The time came where the Bluejays, along with Wahoo, fell, although not without putting up a fight with 39 points, while their opponents from Westview and Millard North scored 65.
Back on the grind, the Bluejays partnered with a Platte City team and had a tough fight, scoring 39 points with a strong fighting opponent from Valley and Kearney Catholic putting up 37.
Back and better than ever, Pierce combined with another team from Central and came out on top 80-14 over teams from North and Skutt.
Team 71414A finished seventh in qualifying with a 5-1 record. They finished 13th in skills despite only using a driver score because of a field issue causing a score of zero for the autonomous portion.
The Smooth Operators selected 17788F Frostbyte from Valley as their tournament partner; the teams won their first round 86-9 over alliances from Central and Skutt and lost in the quarterfinal to an eventual tournament finalist of Platt County and Wahoo, 70-12.
Team 71414Y, the 6 Ultimate Lifeforms finished the day with a 1-5 record.
Team members for Team 71414Y, the 6 Ultimate Life Forms, include Ethan Chaney, Kohin Eichberger, Nickolas Fisher, Alexander McKeown, Layne Prince, and Collin Wessendorf.
In the first round of competition, Pierce won 106-6. The team kept match scores close for the most part after their opening round, losing 36-24, 55-14, 85-14, 39-17, and 28-16.
“The 6 Ultimate Life Forms had a very successful first meet of the season,” Dostal said. “All of their matches were close, and they proved their robot was able to help in all phases of the game. I look forward to the improvements and gains they will make throughout the season.”
The next action for the Pierce Robotics Team will be Saturday, November 22, at Omaha Concordia.
“I’m very proud of our team. We performed well this weekend. The highlight of the tournament was definitely getting the design award after two excellent interviews and making it to state at the first regular-season tournament for the first time in Pierce robotics history,” Shefl said.
