VWHS robotics team does well at state

VWHS news

The Van Wert High School Robotics Team finished in sixth place at the state championships for Ohio FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC).  The competition was held at iSPACE in Cincinnati on February 15-16 and included the top 24 teams from three regional competitions from across the state.

The VWHS team was made up of four seniors, (Alex Bair, Andrew Todd, Noah Edwards, and Matt Saunier), two juniors (Andrew Price and Andrew Dingle), and three freshmen (Nick Gorman, Daniel Wray and Wade Healey). Coaches Bob Spath and Zane McElroy have led the team since its inception two years ago.

After returning from the Regional competition in Dayton, the team recognized that in order to compete at the state championship some drastic changes would have to be made to the robot. Spath summed up the changes that took place over the past three weeks; “My room looked like a chop shop one afternoon a couple weeks ago as the robot was pretty much disassembled and rebuilt in order to modify it to compete at the state championship,” he said.

Long hours were put in by many of the team members and the effort paid off, as Van Wert High School’s Robotics Team was the team to beat throughout the day.

“We were in first place midway through the first six rounds and in third place after five rounds. Our sixth and final round, we went up against last year’s state champion.” Spath said. “They had a great strategy to beat us and they did in the final seconds of the match.  It was heart breaking as only the top four teams get to compete in the semifinals for an opportunity to advance to the world championships.

“We dropped to sixth place after this match; however, we learned a tremendous amount over the past four months and hope next year we can make another run at a state championship,” Spath added.

The team is entirely funded through corporate and private donations; Eaton, Professional Computer Company of Lima, Kennedy Manufacturing, and Braun Industries. In addition, Tom Compton and Randy Gardner, through The Van Wert County Foundation, have provided the vision and funds to support this successful team.

Those interested in helping support the VWHS Robotics team can contact one of the coaches.