VEX TEAMS COMPETE IN TWO LOCAL TOURNAMENTS

Twelve of Caledonia Robotics’ VEX EDR teams joined over 110 others in competition to kick off 2018.  Three Middle School teams competed at the Grandville New Years Tournament that took place on January 6th, and 9 Middle School and High School teams competed at the Jenison Robotics Tournament on January 13th. Caledonia Robotics finished strong taking home 4 trophies at these events.

​Team 97311B, “The Bacon Bombers” seeded 3rd out of 32 teams in Grandville.  They were presented with the Judges award for displaying exemplary effort and perseverance, making it all the way to the Semi-Finals before being knocked out.  Team members include Duncan Lake Middle School 6th graders, Tyler Ambrose, Ben Griffin, Ryan Helmholdt and Hunter Soyka.

Three additional Caledonia Middle School teams were awarded high honors at Jenison’s Tournament, ​including “Johnny Five is Alive” who seeded 8th out of 32 teams. Team members include Duncan Lake 8th graders, Daniel Battey and Nicholas Dykstra, and Kraft Meadows 7th graders David Polak, Sean Rice, and Anders VanderEide. They were presented the Design Award which qualifies them for the West Michigan Regional at Grandville High School on January 27.  This award is presented to a team that demonstrates an organized and professional approach to the design process, project management, time management and team management.  

The second Middle School team to receive the high honor, Team “Raise the Bar”, comprised of Kraft Meadows 8th graders, Zachary Eggleton, Thomas Munson and Colin Pearson, seeded 10th out of 32 Teams.  They earned the Excellence Award, defined as, "... the highest award presented in the VEX Robotics Competition," which is presented to the top all-around team that exemplifies overall excellence in all areas. This is a huge honor and also advances them to West Michigan Regionals.  

“Roboscots 11,” comprised of Kraft Meadows 8th graders, Philip George, Maxwell Frejeris and Grant Peek was awarded the Robot Skills Champion Award for obtaining the highest skills score at Jenison’s Tournament. This score upped their rank to 4th in the State of Michigan and 33rd in the World! This also qualifies them to compete at the West Michigan Regionals.  Team ‘Raise the Bar’ finished just behind them ranking 8th in the State and 48th in the World. The Skills component of a tournament allows teams to demonstrate what their robot can do on its own, showcasing the team’s computer programming knowledge and driving abilities.

Caledonia High School was represented at the Jenison Tournament by Team “Liekehtiä” made up of Juniors, Andrew Miron, Zach Robotham, and Chris Wrogg who seeded 3rd out of 26 teams. Team “No Pun Intended”, made up of sophomores Logan Foerch, Xander Jaquish, Jenna Lubahn and Freshman Sam Norberg seeded 11th out of 26 teams in their division. “Team Four Strikes Back”, comprised of 11th graders Jared McLean, Harrison Norkus and Matt Kaczanowski, seeded 13th out of 26 teams in their division. Most notable about these High School teams is that each of them improved their robotic skills scores enough to earn them a spot at the West Michigan Regional at Grandville on January 27th.
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Caledonia is excited to have 8 out their 14 teams qualify for Regionals in only their second year running.