The Becker High School robotics team, officially known as the Coalition of Independent Students #4607 (aka CIS), began the school year with a victory in the Minnesota Robotics Invitational tournament last Saturday.
CIS media relations officer Emma Schreifels provided the following account of the events leading up to the historic victory:
“While the official season for First Robotics competition begins in January and carries over into the spring, a plethora of off-season events take place throughout the year. One of the most prestigious of these is the Minnesota Robotics Invitational that CIS participated in last Saturday. Thirty-two of the top teams congregated at Roseville High School to compete with their 2014 vintage robots one last time before they engage a totally new engineering obstacle for the 2015 season.
The roster included five finalists from last year's Minnesota State High School League tournament - Becker, Rochester, The Math and Science Academy of Minnesota, Irondale, and Chanhassen - along with other respectable teams from across the state.
The start was rather grim for CIS, but it morphed into a winning streak as the qualification matches progressed. When it was time for final teams to be formed, CIS was drafted into the number one alliance, which quickly decimated the opposing side in two matches. The finals, however, brought about the ultimate challenge when CIS was placed on the opposing side of the formidable Fighting Calculators from The Math and Science Academy of Minnesota, a team that had not lost a Minnesota Tournament since 2012.
In the final face-off, the first round produced a nail-gnawing score of 57-56 in the Calculators' favor. Motivated by this, CIS and its alliance partners retaliated, and the efforts paid off in round two: 152-86.
The resulting rubber match caused frenzy in the stands and on the field as the crowd chanted team names while robots frantically worked to hinder their opponents. When the final buzzer sounded, drive teams huddled anxiously in their respective corners until the scores were posted; the CIS side prevailed with a 126-98 win, thus awarding the title of MRI Champions to CIS and putting to rest the Calculators' winning streak.
"It was a fantastic feeling for us to have achieved well-needed redemption against the teams that beat us at the state and regional competitions," drive team coach Jacob Charbonneau said.
This achievement was especially relevant to the new CIS team, since all of last season's drive team graduated in May. Seniors Jacob Charbonneau, Emma Schreifels and Dani Girtz and junior Sam Somrock were chosen to fill the four drive team positions, providing a good opportunity to test the 2015 team chemistry, and letting rookie team members get their feet wet in FIRST Robotics-style competition.”
First Meeting
Coach Alex Jurek held the first “large group” meeting of the new season Tuesday afternoon at BHS, where he outlined some of the fund-raising and communications activities the team is pursuing to prepare for the 2015 competition season. Sponsorship and donations will need to reach $20,000 for the effort this year, Jurek said.
The team is planning presentations at the Xcel Energy and Liberty Paper facilities in Becker in the near future. Both companies have been enthusiastic sponsors of the program from the beginning.
A field trip to Buffalo High School is also in the works, Jurek said, where a group of team members will demonstrate the current robots and discuss the program with students there.
Jurek and team members Andre Bombardier, Emma Schreifels and Dani Girtz demonstrated the new drive units at the team meeting, including the “butterfly drive” which provides extra torque to “out muscle” enemy robots in competition. That unit was devised and build in 2014 team member Cole Anderson’s grandfather’s kitchen and in the shop at BHS, Jurek said.
The BHS team will close out the 2014 season with an appearance at the Minnesota Mini Regional Nov. 22, where they hope to find similar success.
(Students in photo: Top Schlangen, Sam Somrock, Mentor Ryan Swanson, Mentor Brenten Schlangen, Logan Steffen, Coach Alex Jurek. Bottom row: William Kluge, Megan Swanson, Josiah Christensen, Madi Kerzman, Jacob Charbonneau, Emma Schreifels, Dani Girtz and Evan Girtz.)
