Vex Robotics State Championship

Jacob Albertson, jma245@uakron.edu

( Cover Photo: STEM’s 60883W Holding their State Champions banners - Members are Emilia Radonjich, Aja Dudley, Luke Day, and Nehemiah Hughes)

This past weekend Ohio held its annual Vex Robotics State Championship at the Marion County Fairgrounds. The event contained 96 High School Vex Robotics teams that qualified for states over the past 6 months. It lasted 2 days, the night of March 8th and all day March 9th. With only 19 worlds on the line, much less than usual for Ohio, and a competition with more teams than ever at States, the stakes were high for these teams. So how did the Akron teams do?

 * = Qualified for Worlds

STEM High School: 60883

60883S:

• Finished 45th in Qualification rankings - Missed Tournament

• Finished 32nd in Skills Challenge rankings 

• Won no awards

*60883W: 

• Finished 2nd in Qualification rankings - State Champions

• Finished 37th in Skills Challenge rankings

• Won State Championship

*60883V: 

• Finished 7th in Qualification rankings - Made it to Quarterfinals

• Finished 5th in Skills Challenge rankings

• Won no awards

60883X: 

• Finished 54th in Qualification rankings - Made it to Quarterfinals

• Finished 20th in Skills Challenge rankings

• Won no awards

Firestone High School: 7316

*7316E: 

• Finished 3rd in Qualification rankings - Made it to Semifinals

• Finished 19th in Skills Challenge rankings

• Won Semifinalist award

7316N: 

• Finished 22nd in Qualification rankings - Missed tournament

• Finished 53rd in Skills Challenge rankings 

• Won no awards

*7316R: 

• Finished 29th in Qualification rankings - Made it to Round of 16

• Finished 12th in Skills Challenge rankings 

• Won no awards

*7316V: 

• Finished 58th in Qualification rankings - Missed tournament

• Finished 11th in Skills Challenge rankings

• Won no awards

*7316X: 

• Finished 20th in Qualification rankings - Made it to Round of 16

• Finished 39th in Skills Challenge rankings 

• Won Innovate award

With 2 teams from STEM High School qualifying and 4 teams from Firestone High School, Akron had a fantastic day at states with 6 total teams qualifying for the World Championship Event. A lot of notable events with each team as well. Firestone's teams 7316R, 7316V, and STEM’s team 60883V all qualified through their high Skills Challenge ranking. Team 7316X qualified off of winning the Innovate Award, but this resulted in a double qualification due to them having won a signature event last month that already qualified them for worlds. Also it was their double qualification that moved the Skills Challenge qualifications down 1 more spot and earned 7316V a Worlds spot. 7316E aligned with Elyria High School's 11124P and made it to semifinals before they lost to the inevitable state champions. 

Being a tournament semi-finalist is a Worlds Qualifying award at states. STEM’s 60883W aligned with Brecksville-Broadview heights’ 2011D and won the whole tournament in dominating fashion. They defeated 2011A and 2011B in finals which are both teams that have already qualified for worlds multiple times. A lot of effort and dedication brought these teams to the success that they have achieved and all of it was on display at states. I wish all of them good luck at Worlds!