FRC 4607, C.I.S., Becker’s robotics team, qualified for Worlds for the fourth straight season after competing in the Northern Lights Regional in Duluth last weekend.

 

Last season the team matched the state record for number of consecutive Chairman’s Awards (three) when they won it at the Lake Superior Regional. Last weekend they broke that record again when they won the Northern Lights Regional Chairman’s Award. 

 

The team also completed the Grand Slam of Chairman’s Awards in the state by winning all four of the Regional Chairman’s Awards (RCA) at all four different regionals in Minnesota.

 

“This most likely won’t happen again for some time,” said Coach Alex Jurek. “Winning one Chairman’s is something special. Winning four in a row and at four different regionals is unheard of.”

 

The Chairman’s Award is presented to the team that exemplifies the best attributes of a FIRST team, one that can field a highly competitive robot, culture change in their community and expand FIRST ideas of STEM. 

 

The team’s accomplishments haven’t gone unnoticed. They’re currently ranked #1 in the state among 222 robotics teams for the second straight season. In the Chairman’s Power ranking, they’re #7 out of nearly 4,000 teams worldwide.

 

Last season the team was ranked first in the state for most of the season with one of the world’s best switch-bots. They ended the season as World Champ Finalists in Duluth.

 

This season they return with one of the best drivers in the world, Blake Soenneker and drive coach Ben Fischbach. They’ve built a robot that is considered one of the best alongside Minnesota’s powerhouses, Irondale, Greenbush and Frazee, all three of which were in the state finals last season.

 

In Duluth last weekend the team competed against 63 other teams from across Minnesota, Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Iowa and Sweden. The team was the second overall selection. Their alliance survived a scare in the quarterfinals winning the best of three after losing the first match. They won their second match and finished off the #7 alliance even though their other partner fell dead 30 seconds into the match.

 

The team’s alliance breezed through the semifinal match-up against the #3 alliance, winning two straight matches. Becker fell in the finals to perennial rivals, FRC 2052 KnightKrawler, in the finals.

 

Becker will next compete at 10,000 Lakes Regional in Minneapolis in a few weeks. Following that match, they’ll head to Detroit at the end of April to compete with the best in the world with the robot and on the Chairman’s side.