Robotics Hits High Skills Score
In their first competition of 2026, the Pierce robotics team, Smooth Operators, also known as team 71414A, headed to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln for their meet.
Pierce’s team achieved their highest skills score to date, earning 101.
“The highlight of our tournament was increasing our skills score. We got a 38 for programming and a 63 for driver, totalling 101 points in skills. This was around a 40-point increase, and it moved us to ninth in the state,” Makayla Shefl, the programmer for their team, notes.
The Smooth Operators and 4327A from Elkhorn High competed against their first opponent, 43280A from Elkhorn North and 5069W from Millard North High. The first match did not go in favor of Pierce, as their combined effort only scored 23 points, and the Elkhorn North/Millard North matchup had 68 points.
Moving on to the second match, Smooth Operators and Goofy Goobs from Centura went up against Roncalli Catholic High School's team named SpongeBob and OPS-Almost HD. Pierce’s combo won 85- 20.
The third match resulted in a 42-25 win for Smooth Operators who were paired with Clanker Creators from Elkhorn South defeating teams from Gross Catholic and a Grand Island.
The Grand Island team 8151V paired with Pierce for a 97-11 win over Blair’s team, Duplex Vexillum, and Omaha North’s Perfectly Flawed.
O’Neill’s team, Crooked Bots, when paired with the Smooth Operators gave no chance to Vex-men from Northwest and team We Have No Clue from O’Neill, winning 136-33.
When paired with Centura’s Blue Mako, Pierce lost 33-17 to Snaketura from Centura and Krispy Crew from Central High School.
Coming back to win 50-30 in the seventh qualifying round, Pierce and CBLT from Blair beat Dumpster Fire from Central and LooseyGoosey's from Bryan High School.
In the final qualifying match, 71414A was paired with Iron Core robotics out of Omaha and beat the duo of the Dawgs from Elkhorn North and Vex-Men from Northwest 122-13.
When the tournament started, Pierce paired with Out for Delivery, 3141A, from Gross Catholic. They won their first match 90-23, but lost in the quarterfinals 64-24, finishing the tournament in 11th place.
The next competition is in O’Neill on January 21. The robotics team started the year off strong, and they are hoping that they keep rolling forward.
