Young Innovators competed in the Greenville VEX “Sack Attack” Tournament last Saturday.

Teams of Robot-Building Students Put STEM Skills to the Test with more than 200 leading middle and high school VEX Robotics students and mentors from around Dallas and the Greenville areas united to participate in the “Greenville VEX Sack Attack Tournament” last Saturday in the Greenville High School Gymnasium.  Participants competed for the championship title by strategically executing the game “Sack Attack,” driving robots they designed, built and programmed from the ground up using the VEX Robotics Design System.

The Greenville VEX Sack Attack Tournament is one of a series of VEX Robotics Competitions taking place internationally throughout the year.  VEX Robotics is the world’s fastest growing competitive robotics program for middle schools, high schools and colleges around the world, with more than 5,000 teams from 30 countries that participate in more than 350 VEX Robotics Competition events worldwide.  The competition season culminates each Spring, with the highly-anticipated VEX Robotics World Championship event, uniting top qualifying teams from local, state and international VEX Robotics Competitions. 

The VEX Robotics Competition serves as a vehicle for students to develop critical life skills such as teamwork, leadership and project management, honed through building robots and competing with like-minded students from the community in a pulse-pounding, exciting, non-traditional environment. 

Greenville Middle School teams did exceptionally well and landed two technical awards.

The “Innovate Award” was won by Team 2148J. The “Innovate” award is presented to a team that has demonstrated a strong combination of ingenuity and innovation in designing their VEX robot. This award typically recognizes a specific innovative machine feature, that was designed by thinking outside the box, resulting in a unique piece of engineering which forms an integral part of their engineering design solution to the complex problems presented by the VEX Robotics Competition game. Team 2148J team members attending were Martin Castillo, Corey Hargraves, Marco Alcaraz and Mayra Ruiz.

The “Build Award” was won by Team 2148D. The “Build” award is given to a team that has built a well-crafted and constructed robot that also shows a clear dedication to safety and attention to detail. Judges looked for robots with a professional feel and quality look to them, with clear attention to detail in construction, efficient use of mechanical and electronic components, and reliability on the competition field. Team 2148D team members attending were Ryan Swistak, Channing Hemingway, Ethan King and Jacob Hunnicutt.

Team 2148D finished the qualification rounds in 3^rd place and formed the #2 alliance with teams 1366M and 136M from Berkner High School in Richardson. They were eliminated in the Semifinals.

Team 2148C finished the qualification rounds in 9^th place. They formed the #6 Alliance with 2148E (Completed the qualification rounds in 10^th place) from GMS and 1082B from Lovejoy High School. They were eliminated in the Quarterfinals. Team 2148C Team members attending were Nathan Fort, Hunter Hooten, Hector Pineda and Nick Ruprecht.

Team 2148E team members were J.T. Foote, Alyssa Sagun, Avery Vaquera and Kaden Denuyl.

Team 2148F finished the qualification rounds in 13^th place and formed the #8 Alliance with 1604M from Greenville and 2148G (Completed the qualification rounds in 21^st place) from GMS. They were eliminated in the Quarterfinals. Team 2148F team members attending were Xachary Aguilar, Breanna Evans and Danielle Mumphrey.

Team 2148G team members attending were Edwin Suarez, Will Adel, Austin Sanders, Haley Schmock and Clinton McCoy.

Team 2148M finished the qualification rounds in 14^th place and joined the #1 Alliance with team 4000X and team 4000 both from Quinlan. They were eliminated in the finals with only 1 win shy of the becoming tournament champions. Team 2148M team members attending were Coleman Avants, Ryan Bakkum, Hannah Mulder and Aidan Smith.

Team 2148J finished the qualification rounds in 17^th place. They joined the #7 Alliance with teams 1366A and 136T both from Berkner High School in Richardson. They were eliminated in the Semifinals.

Team 2148B finished the qualification rounds in 29^th place. Team 2148B team members attending were Zack Freeman, Noah Farkosh, Kolton Evans, Kaylea Evans and Hannah Schmock.

Team 2148 finished the qualification rounds in 37^th place. Team 2148 team members attending were Garrett Packer, Thomas Gore and Holdyn Mason.

Team 2148H finished the qualification rounds in 41^st place. Team 2148H team members attending were Nicolas Hazlett, Anthony Suggs and Raymond McClure.

GMS Coach Orion Casper stated, “Being that this was the first tournament of the year with a combined high school and middle school field of 56 robots, our teams did very well with six out of ten reaching the qualification rounds.  We walked away with two technical awards. I am very proud of them and expect that we will do even better in Garland.”

Greenville High School Teams also faired very well. Team 4148C finished the qualification rounds 18^th place. Team 4148C team members attending were Jonathan Rea, Evan Shatney and Johnathan McClellen.

Team4148B finished the qualification rounds in 19^th place. Team 4148B team members attending were Brian Adams and Booby Osornio.

Team 4148D finished the qualification rounds in 36^th place. Team 4148D team members attending were Ricky Steward, Tristan Swanzy and Brie Wiker.

Team 4148A finished the qualification rounds in 49^th place. Team 4148A team members attending were Tyler Behrens, Taliyan Jordan, Ariel Taylor and Cassie Wilson.

Robowrangler Coach and Tournament Volunteer Coordinator Adrienne Emerson  said, “This event made me a very proud teacher. I had 29 student volunteers running the event and another 12 competing. The teams that competed did an amazing job. For almost all the students it was their first competition ever and they were dedicated, focused, and addressed problems quickly and efficiently. They all had minor mechanical issues, which is to be expected at the first tournament and they are working hard to fix them for the next competitions. I know they will take this experience and their performance will continue to improve all season.  The Robowranglers hosted this event and were absolutely amazing. We had many compliments about this being one of the best regional many participants had ever attended. For being high school students and this being the first tournament that they have ever run, it was quite an accomplishment. The Robowrangler students are professionalism at its best. “