FIRST Minnesota Regional

March 29, 2008

By Greg B.

Congratulations and thank you to everyone involved in the inaugural FIRST Minnesota Regional, which concluded Saturday March 29 after three intense days of competition, excitement, and gracious professionalism. The effort that everyone put forward in organizing, volunteering, competing, and attending made it a truly memorable first-FIRST regional!

Especially notable were the performances of the 54 attending teams and their robots, which really helped make the competition exciting.  Of these, none stand out more then the three teams that comprised the winning alliance: Team 525-Swart-Dogs, Cedar Falls, IA; Team 93-New Apple Corp., Appleton, WI; and Team 2518-Simley High School, Inver Grove Heights, MN. These three teams really put the “over” into this year’sFIRST Overdrive, with their well-engineered robots and elegant game-strategy. Making them work hard for the title, however, was the Regional Finalists alliance, which feature three Minnesota teams: Team 2239-Technocrats, Hopkins High School, Hopkins, Minn.; Team 2177-The Robettes, Convent of the Visitation High School, Mendota Heights, and Team 2513-T.E.R.T.O.L.A., Thomas Edison High School, Minneapolis. Thank you to all the participating teams for exemplifying the FIRST spirit throughout the competition. 

Teams also earned awards off the competition field. A wave of the checkered flag to Team 2220-Blue Twilight, Eagan High School, Eagan, MN, which picked up a second “Best Website” award, adding Minnesota to the Wisconsin Regional win. Team 1987-Broncobots of Lee’s Summit, MO, took home the “Regional Engineering Inspiration” award, which recognizes a team which has had “outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community.”  Congratulations also toTeam 1816-The Green Machine, Edina High School, Edina, MN, on winning the most prestigious regional honor, the “Regional Chairman’s Award.” This award “honors the team judged to have created the best partnership effort among team participants, and to have best exemplified the true meaning of FIRST. The award helps keep the central focus of the FIRST Robotics Competition on the goal of inspiring greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology.

On top of the teams that win the competition proper, teams that win the awards for “Engineering Inspiration,” “Rookie All-Star” and “Regional Chairman’s Award” are also now headed to the Championship Competition, April 17 – 19, 2008, in Atlanta, GA. Best wishes and good luck to all the 340-plus teams now planning to attend the Championships in Atlanta; we hope to see you again next year for the 2009 Minnesota FIRSTRegional Competition!