- Academics
CC Robotics had what can only be described as an incredible tournament this weekend at Kettering University, winning their first playoff match to put them in first place and never leaving that position the whole day.
As the captain of the #1 Alliance, the team went undefeated in the playoffs to capture their 7th event winner banner in seven seasons (not counting the two COVID cancelled seasons), and the fourth as the Captain of the Alliance.
Finally, they won the Excellence in Engineering award for their robust, accurate robot design. The 73 points they won at this competition should be enough to qualify them for the Michigan State Championship. But they're not done yet!
The CC Shambytes also had an awesome event. Starting out slowly as the new students got used to their first event ever, they quickly adapted, fixing the robot as it became damaged, and becoming one of the top performing robots in their final couple of matches.”
This resulted in being picked as the #2 pick of the #2 Alliance. Their alliance only lost to the eventual championship team. Finally, they won the Rookie All-Star award, which is the highest award for a rookie team and comes with an invitation to compete for this award at the Michigan State Championship, albeit without their robot.
The team now has 53 qualification points for the Championship, with 63-65 usually needed. They are focused on the Livonia event to get the remaining points and qualify for the State Championship with their robot.
The Bytes only lost to the championship team, which was led by the Bots. This competition exemplifies what Father Fulton quotes from scripture many times, "Iron sharpens Iron."
Because the Bytes improved so much during the competition, the #2 alliance was a force to be reckoned with. In their first match, the Bots were forced to put up an event-high score of 88 points to beat them.
The Bytes moved to the lower bracket where their alliance also scored 88 points, calling out the Bots to do better when they met again in the finals. The Bots did just that by again putting up an event record of 93 points in the first final match, and another record 94 points in the second final match.
“With all this competitive success, probably the most impressive and moving event for me came after the competition was over. I was speaking with someone who is a strong force with FIRST and Vex in Michigan and well known and respected about the competition. She told me that competing against CC was always a joy because our students are the most respectful, considerate high school students she has seen at these competitions. She said that this, unfortunately, is not common with other teams,” stated CC Shambot’s Head Coach and FIRST Robotics Director, Joe Lemieux.
“Monday, we begin preparing for the Livonia competition in two weeks on our journey back to Houston and the FIRST Championship. The team is very excited,” Coach Lemieux continued.