By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio finished strong at the robotics world championships after a grueling qualifying schedule.
Del Rio High School’s Team 4063 TriKzR4Kidz finished ranked 35th out of 75 teams in the Hopper Division at the FIRST Robotics Competition’s World Championships in Houston this weekend, ending the two-day qualifying matches with a record of 6-4.
They wrapped up their qualifying matches Friday afternoon after going 4-4 Thursday and Friday morning. The team won match 104 as part of the Blue Alliance, 115-110. They were teamed up with teams from Due West, S.C., and Greenville, Texas.
Del Rio then finished its qualifying matches with a win in match 121, 99-91, as part of the red alliance along with teams from Sanger, Calif., and Indianapolis, Ind.
Though Del Rio finished ranked 35th, there was no guarantee or threshold that meant they would move on to the championship matches Saturday. Team captains from each division would drafted their alliance based on the teams that they best felt fit their playing style and could help them achieve the win.
Team 1706 the Ratchet Rockers from Wentzville, Mo., wound up ranked first in the Hopper Division after going 10-0 in qualifying. They defeated Del Rio’s alliance in the 70th qualifying match, 115-110.
For winning the division, the Rockers were named captains and got to draft three other teams as part of their alliance headed into the championship rounds. Their first pick was Team 1678 Citrus Circuits out of Davis, Calif. They went 8-2 in qualifying and finished ranked third in the division. They did not play with or against 4063.
With their second pick, the Rockers selected Team 5454 Obsidian from Bentonville, Ark. That team went 2-7-1 in qualifying and finished as the 63rd ranked team in the Hopper Division. Like Citrus Circuits, they did not play with or against 4063 in qualifying.
With their final pick, the Rockers chose Team 4213 MetalCow Robotics from Bloomington, Ill. They went 6-4 in qualifying and were ranked 24th. They teamed with 4063 to win the 62nd qualifying match, 159-83.
The Hopper Division was one of six divisions that would be represented in Saturday’s championship round. All six divisions competed against each other in a round robin format with the top two alliances advancing to the world championship match.
Hopper went 2-3 in the round robin matches and finished fifth out of the six championship teams. The Turing Division, who went 4-1, finished first followed by the Galileo division, which went 3-2.
In the world championship match, Galileo defeated Turing, 2-1. The winning alliance consisted of Team 1619 Up-A-Creek Robotics from Longmont, Colo., Team 254 Cheesy Poofs from San Jose, Calif., Team 3175 Knight Vision from Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich., and Team 6672 Fusion Corps from Irving, Texas.
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