2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

OK, I'll start the thread.
Who's coming to BMR this year?

FIRST Team 1501 (T.H.R.U.S.T.) will be there. We haven't missed one yet.

See you all there :D

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

First Team 45 (The Technokats) will be there. We hope to actually compete unlike last year where we sat in the pits all day.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I am volunteering at the event... Does that count?

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Sure, why not. :D

FIRST Team 461 will be there. Good Luck to Everyone!

P.S. I'm super excited to see all the new teams! 11 rookies i believe. McCutcheon's team looks promising as does Andy Baker's new team.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Team 2338 is wait-listed. Hope we get in!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

FIRST Team 1732 (Hilltopper Robotics) will be there, for the first time.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

The Goats will be in the barn like we have for every Boilermaker regional.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

2081 Icarus will be there!!

Side note: 2040 D.E.R.T. will not be at the Boilermaker this year, they are going to the Wisconsin Regional. That means the Spirit Award is up for grabs!!! (they have won this award for the past 3 years)

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Team 4058 will also be there

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FIRST rookie team 3947 will be there. We cant wait to see our friends from THRUST and Cyber Blue there.:D

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Team 292 will be at the BMR again this year. Looking for a great BMR Regional.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

What? no more pool noodle dude?

Looks like BMR could be an interesting regional indeed.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Is it going to be in the Armory again?

Any chance we can upgrade to someplace bigger, like Lambert or Mackey?

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

AFAIK, same place.

Agreed that a bigger venue would be nice... my only guess to why they are stuck is either availability or finances.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I'll be watching it via webcast (if there is one). If there is, does anyone have the link to it? I'm gathering my webcasts-to-watch links now.

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Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe availability is the reason. I believe it is if Purdue's track team does well, they may have to commandeer Lambert for a track meet over Purdue's spring break.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I will most likely be out at BMR for the first time as a volunteer. I am very excited to see all the great teams attending!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

1732 is very excited to be attending the Boilermaker Regional.

Regarding the team social, I'm surprised to see dinner offered at 5:30 and 6:15 when the award ceremony runs until 6:00. Am I misreading something?

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Usually the Indoor state high school track meet is the same Friday/Saturday of BMR. At least its been that way the past 4 or 5 years.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I guess I'm not allowed to drive anymore....:(
But I'll still be there!

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Only 4 more days until Boilermaker. I can hardly wait :ahh:

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

In the light of recent posts on other regional threads, are there any teams that are more than willing in coordinating with other teams for the hybrid period?

Maybe we'll see a 6 shots in the top hoop.....

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Taking off work Thursday and Friday to watch BMR... Don't disappoint me! :D

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I know that these next three days of work can't go by any faster! After the past two week of 5 hour practice's and our 15 Saturday practice, and all the tweaks made. I know the goats will be ready!

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Early weather forecast are indicating warm temps in the upper 60 to low 70's with chances of Thunderstorms.

No heavy coats needed this year in fact you may want to bring shorts! Don't forget your umbrellas.

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Team 135 will be there! I cannot wait!

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Pre-Scouting Report:
Three BMR teams have already competed this year; all of them at Smoky Mountains. All three teams played in the eliminations, either as captains or first-round picks.

234: SMR Champions, ICA, Website, RCA
292: 4th alliance first pick
1501: 5th alliance captain, Imagery

BMR is going to be stocked!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Looks like temps in the 70's all weekend for BMR. In Indiana that means chances of storms everyday.

Be prepared for the barn getting warm in the afternoon. Also have a plan for evacuating to a better shelter. That means unplugging your electronic equipment and gathering your group up.

Lets hope the storms stay away and we have a nice weekend.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Living in West Lafayette all my life, I've learned you can never be prepared for Indiana/West Lafayette weather. Last week we had a day where it was 60-ish degrees. The next day it snowed. The day after that it was back to 60-70 degrees.

For those coming to Boilermaker, be prepared for ALL weather.
Except, of course, a hurricane or something. Probably.

-Duke

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

FIRST Team 2171 (Robodogs) will be there as always, look forward to seeing all the usual teams and all the new rookie teams. We wish everyone the best of luck.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Does anyone know if there will be a webcast of the event?

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Remember to stop by FIRST Team 1501's pit. We will be having our annual "Guess the Rivets" contest.
The contest consist of guessing how many rivets are holding our robot together. We give a prize for the closest guess without going over.
Good luck all.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

[WINNING GUESS]Infinity - 1[/WINNING GUESS]

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I will be watching.

One of my Cincy rookie teams will be there, 4028. Please take good care of them!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Indiana in general is like that... down here in southern indiana we had a large ef4 tornado hit and the next week we get snow.

WL isn't quite that extreme (lived there for 11 years, 1999-2010), but weather wise, anything goes. Be prepared.

---

And yes, I can't wait. too bad I have class on thursday (I'll be working field reset on friday and Saturday though)

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Good luck everyone!



I AM PUMPED!!!

-Duke

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Just wanted to let everyone know that there will be a webcast this year. We are working out what the URL will be with the University video group. Once I know what it is I will post it here as well as on the regional website.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

FIRST Team 2081 Icarus will be bringing it to the BMR. Good luck to all of the teams.

Scott Welch Electrial Team Mentor
Advanced Technology Services
2011 Boilermaker Regional Champions, Boilermaker Motorola Quality Award, Boilermaker Autodesk Excellence in Design Award
2010 Boilermaker Regional finalists; 2009 Boilermaker General Motors Industrial Design Award; 2008 Boilermaker Engineering Inspiration Award; 2007 Boilermaker Rookie All-Star Award

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

i'll be there later today to watch I can't wait to cheer on the Indiana teams!

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The information for the webcast is up on the regional website. We will start broadcasting with opening ceremonies tomorrow morning.

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There is a charter bus from South Carolina driving by the venue now. Everybody wave!:D

Yep we are here and having a great time! We got some coopertition balancing points today in a practice match!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Hello, not sure if I'm really posting this in the right thread, but I'm wondering where I could get ahold of the match schedule for boilermaker this year. I'd like to stream the competition and hope to catch a few matches with my former team (292!) but as I'm studying abroad in France it makes the timing a little difficult...so knowing the matches would really help! If someone could e-mail me with any information at mlauterb@indiana.edu that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Molly

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

The schedule and results are posted here

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

1555 Pulse will be there on Saturday to observe and talk :). It doesn't wasn't in the cards this year for us to attend.

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1732 looks ridiculous! lol :yikes:

I'd love to get a video from that team.

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I love the launch ramp style, it looks like once it's tuned it will just be dumping loads of balls in. I'm looking forward to seeing it in Milwaukee next weekend :)

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Having a hard time with the webcast. Not sure if it's my computer or if the link on the site isn't right. It's telling me "invalid address"

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I have it working on Madstream (madstream.team1323.com) -- the stream is coming through Microsoft Silverlight so that might be the problem if you don't have it or the newest version.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I have the webcast working with VLC media player. I just copied the webcast link into the "network" tab under "url" and hit play.

I cannot believe it but along with 1501 and 1756 we were the Boilermaker Regional Champions! Thanks to everyone on the forum who gave me help this season, we probably wouldn't have had a robot without you!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Congrats to everyone, the sound level and the enthusiasm in the armory was incredible. I bet we put Mackey Arena to shame.

I'd also like to thank 829 and 3559 for being great alliance partners. I'm not sure there's a more exciting way to lose, by 2 points to a triple balance!

Also 829, you definitely made LF look stupid ::safety:: .


Boiler Up!

The fans definitely were awesome, such a great atmosphere. Congrats to all teams and special thanks to 45 and 829 for giving us some awesome help throughout the weekend.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Congratulations to everyone for an awesome 2012 BMR.
There were 10 rookie teams and all of them were inpressive!

Congratulations to the Hilltoppers 1732 for the RCA! The video was awesome and you are doing great things!

Congratulations to the winning allinace of 1501 - 4028 - 1756. You definitely earned your way to the top and made the eliminations exciting for everyone.

Congratulations to the runner-up alliance of 3847 - 3865 - 3940 - 2197. Two rookie teams in this alliance!

Congratulations to Jason Zelke (1024) for the Regional Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. Well deserved.

Thanks to 3487 for the selection for eliminations and 461 for being a great partner. We were close!


Great event and the house was packed for the finals with teams and many guests.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

On behalf of team 4272 Maverick Boiler Robotics, I'd like to thank teams 1732 and 292 for being such fantastic alliance partners. We had a great time playing with you and we look forward to seeing you on the field in the future.

Congratulations to our partner 1732 on the Regional Chairman's Award and to team 868 on the Engineering Inspiration.

This was a great BMR. See you all next year.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

This was 1732's first time going to Boilermaker. We usually go to Midwest, but this year it's the same weekend as our home tournament, Wisconsin. A HUGE factor in our choosing Boilermaker was the high level of competition at this regional - you all certainly did not disappoint!

I'd like to thank our alliance partners, 4272 and 292. You guys definitely played out the strategy well, and it was awesome being part of a triple balance! Thanks for picking us. Congratulations to 1501, 4028, and 1756, they were close semifinal matches but your alliance was truly amazing.

I'd like to throw in a shout out to 3940 CyberTooth. I personally was inspired by your team - your rookie year, you not only had a very impressive robot, but you went to the finals and almost took the entire regional home. Congratulations on the Rookie Inspiration Award.

Additionally, thank you for the congratulations on RCA, our team is very excited :)

I hope our team makes it back to Boilermaker again!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Where do you start thanking after an event like this, there's too many people to thank?

I'll start with out alliance mates: 3559 such bad luck, you guys deserved so much better, you were fun to work with. 868 - when you see our two teams together it's hard to believe our high schools are such bitter rivals. I am so glad that doesn't carry over to FIRST because we love sitting with you and being your friends.

Thanks to our practice, trailer and scouting mates 1024. We are blessed that you guys are our neighbors and we couldn't have done as well without your help and support.

3940 - Your shooter design it truly what made our robot the success it was. Thanks for sharing it with us. I loved watching you guys play and improve every match. The folks at Queen City better watch out. The fling-a-pults are coming!

Thanks to all the volunteers who worked so hard to make this a perfect event. All I can say is flawless. Can you work on the weather next year please :)

Thanks to all the veteran teams that you see working hard on to make sure all the rookies we had at Boilermaker had a good experience. When I see all the different colored shirts working in other teams pits it make me very proud to be a Hoosier.

Congratulations to the Anderson family for being volunteer of the year. There were more than a few tears in the house when you guys won.

Congratulations to the winning allinace of 1501 - 4028 - 1756. What can you say 1501 it's about time, if we couldn't win we were glad it was you.

Congratulations to 1732 for the RCA, your video made it obvious why you deserved this award.

Congratulations to Jason Zelke for the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. Your tireless work for FIRST in Indiana make us all stronger and better.

Marc brother we missed you.

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Congrats to 1732 on RCA! Always happy to see Milwaukee teams getting the love and I know you guys do a ton. Can't wait to see you and your robot next weekend.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Wow- what a regional. Personally, I was glad to see the competition step up from 2011, and back to where it was in 2010.

There's too thanks for me to count...

First off, congratulations to the Andersen family from 45. Art had touched us all, and we felt that the right award was given to the right people. RIP, Mr. Andersen.

RIP Mr. Marc Braum also, from 3176. They weren't picked for eliminations, but they were still a team to be proud of.

3947 and 3940 are two rookies that whole state is extremely proud of. Literally them alone carried the alliance all the way the finals, beating out the alliance of 3487-234-461 in breathtaking 3 matches. I think we're looking at several new powerhouses come a few years.... Huge shout-out to our mentees 3947. It was extremely fun getting to know you all, and inspiring to watch our little cowboys grow into fine Indiana Jones. We kind of wish we could've played together in the qualifications, but we loved playing against you all in the finals! We could've not been more proud of a team when you guys won the Rookie All-Star. We'll see and have fun with you all at St. Louis!!

3487-461-234 I felt kind of bad for you all when 3487 broke down. You guys had an incredibly well-rounded alliance, and would've been a force to reckon with in the finals.

1720-1024-1747 and 1732-292-4272 Both alliances scared us for a while. You guys definitely deserve some recognition in attempting the triple balance with wide bots.

And, of course, our wonderful partners....

4028 I'll be honest. I was a little reluctant about being able to complete the triple balance when 1756 picked you guys with the 2nd pick. Every single doubt I had disappeared when we completed the first stacking triple balance, and I was never more happier to be wrong. You guys have incredibly smart drivers, and I remember this well, because after we added a little help and practice (both before and during eliminations) to get onto our robot, you guys nailed each one perfectly. Your enthusiasm of cheering for all the teams (especially our alliance) was extremely infectious, and spread to the 1756 and 1501 crowd. We'll see you guys in St. Louis! (Jimmy, you better be proud of this team, because I am).

1756 Thank you SO much for taking a chance on us although we didn't have the best performance ever in qualifications. You do not know how much impact your robot had on the alliance. There were times that your top-hoop shooting pulled us out of situations that no amount of triple balancing could've saved. I had many members of the team come over and tell me that our robot was incredible and literally saved our alliance. I'd like the moment to say that we only offered the capability for triple balancing, and your robot (not ours) saved the alliance. You guys deserved to be the captains. Period. We had so much fun working with you all, and we'll see you at St. Louis!.

Once again, thank you 4028 and 1756 for bring 1501 their first blue banner ever! We can't thank you enough!

Shout-out to 234 for helping 4211 and 4234 get their robots together and working. 4211 was 8th overall, and became the number 7 seed.

Congratulations to 1732 for winning Chairman's, and 868 for Engineering Inspiration! There couldn't be two more deserving teams going to St. Louis!

Thank you to all the teams that attended, and making this regional probably one of the most exciting in FIRST!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Sounds like an exciting competition for all at the Boilermaker Regional!!
I am curious if 1501 bot with their "piggyback" game strategy worked for them in elimination rounds? Our team has the same concept idea but didn't attempt it at West Michigan Competition. It wasn't an ideal bot combination to try for it.
But we, as an alliance did win and played a very tough alliance that did succeed in a 3-bot balance (teams 1918, 85, and 910) in 2 out of the 3 final matches. These were the only two 3-bot balances at West Michigan and the crowded loved it!!!:)

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

We did the Three Bot Stack two times. We didn't need to do it more than that, but we could have.
In the third match of the Quarter-Finals Team 4028 fell slowly off of our Flight deck and it took a piece of paper to determine if we were going on to the Semi-Finals.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Yes, we had an ideal alliance for the "piggybacking" strategy (although we prefer to call it stacking.:) ), and it carried us all the way to a regional win. We attempt the stacking when we needed to (especially when the other alliances we were facing were trying for the tripe balancing).

I'm happy that you guys did well at West Michigan without the "piggybacking," though. From the day the build season ended and all the reveal videos came out, you were immediately a team to watch for me, because we had similar robots. I hope you all and 701 can win a regional with "piggybacking," because certainly did.:D

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I think I can speak for everyone on 1732 when I say that Boilermaker was a blast. It was likely the most well run event, I've every attended. All the volunteers and other teams were simply the nicest people I've interacted at a FIRST event. I don't believe there were any field delays. The team social and awards ceremony were some of the best, also. Just a great event. I hope we can make it back in the future.

Thanks to 4272 for picking us and 292 for rounding out the alliance. While I was impressed with 4272's rookie robot, I'm still amazed at their grasp of strategy. A rookie team that picks two teams to successfully pull off a ball starvation, triple balance alliance that knocks off a significantly stronger #1 alliance is so impressive. I wish we could have gone further, but we literally lost by inches on the triple balance attempt.

Congrats to 1756, 1501 and 4028 on the victory. I have to admit I was a little skeptical of your chances at getting a triple balance after watching it on the practice field, but you proved me wrong and certainly deserve your win. When it mattered the most, you all executed the triple balance the best. For a team that's been building some of the most beautiful and competitive robots for years, its about time 1501 got a blue banner.

Thanks for all the congratulations on our RCA. I'm still amazed we won!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Great to hear it works!! I look forward to seeing videos and pictures of your stacking bots!!! :) AWESOME!!

I can understand where you were coming from when saying you were reluctant, we weren't the best looking bot by far with a pretty low scoring percentage and not the best seed. Our entire team still cannot believe we won. Coming in we weren't expecting to even get into the elimination rounds, and didn't think of the possibility of winning. I mean seriously we are a rookie team with a robot made out of mostly PVC and plywood :). We were just trying to do the best with what we had. Thanks so much to 1756 for giving us a shot, and for 1501 with the brilliant triple balance strategy. We are just glad we were able to make a meaningful contribution to our alliance. You both had amazing scoring robots, we just wanted to do our part to help.

Once again thanks to all teams for an amazing regional experience! As a senior I am disappointed that I won't have a chance to compete in another season, but I am so glad I was able to drive for our team this season and help pull off a win. It is surely something I will remember forever.

Here's a link to my tweet with a picture of our triple balance:

https://twitter.com/#!/touchdownjesu...307136/photo/1

A better picture from 1501's Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamthr...in/photostream

That was a crazy match. Here's a picture of how close we were to not earning that double balance that gave us the win.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

As another member of 4028, thanks again to 1756 and 1501 for allowing us to be a part of their alliance. And thanks to everyone else who made this an amazing first competition for our team.

Here's A picture of one of our triple balances with 1756 almost falling off. The only reason they stayed on is because they were stuck between 1501's and our bumper.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Here is a video of one of our matches: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doBPT...ure=plpp_video

Don't want to de-rail this thread too much, but 67's 2006 robot was the initial inspiration for the shooter design. The high release point makes shooting from the fender easier while the center of gravity is still low (the deflector weighs less than a pound and a half), making balancing easy. For the first time, I think we have a robot that stands out in a crowd. Although we are pleased with our preformance at BMR, we haven't come close to the full potential of the robot.

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You guys were great. You were one of three robots on our pick list and only lost out to 868 because they are our friends. You and 868 are going to rock their world next week in Wisconsin. I wish I could be there in person, but I'll have to watch you on webcast.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

i am from team 2197, that was a great competition. my FIRST (see what i did there?!?!?) one. that was a lot of fun there, who remembers the video at the opening ceremony going out because of a low battery? priceless.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

also, did anyone try the kinect at all? i noticed not a single of the 40 teams did.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I saw one team use it. I think it was during the elimination rounds. Can't remember the number though.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

[quote=touchdownjesus4;1145718]I can understand where you were coming from when saying you were reluctant, we weren't the best looking bot by far with a pretty low scoring percentage and not the best seed. Our entire team still cannot believe we won. Coming in we weren't expecting to even get into the elimination rounds, and didn't think of the possibility of winning. I mean seriously we are a rookie team with a robot made out of mostly PVC and plywood :). We were just trying to do the best with what we had. Thanks so much to 1756 for giving us a shot, and for 1501 with the brilliant triple balance strategy. We are just glad we were able to make a meaningful contribution to our alliance. You both had amazing scoring robots, we just wanted to do our part to help.

Once again thanks to all teams for an amazing regional experience! As a senior I am disappointed that I won't have a chance to compete in another season, but I am so glad I was able to drive for our team this season and help pull off a win. It is surely something I will remember forever.
QUOTE]
From what I have been told, Team 1756 had no second pick and trusted our teammate to pick the second player. And like they say, the rest is history.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I believe 3176 did it successfully.

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I don't want to derail this thread either, but it's crazy that someone used our (67's) 2006 robot as an inspiration for a design this year. 2006 is the year and robot that nobody talks about on the HOT Team. I wish you better luck in implementing this design than we did!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

I am , I am. I spoke to Andy yesterday to help him through the next steps. Hopefully they can raise the money to get to St. Louis.

Congrats to all the teams!

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

The results are incomplete. Does anyone know who won the RCA?

Thanks.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

1732 - The Hilltoppers.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

Correct. You don't build a robot as brilliant as yours without scouting teams that can drive and fit on it.

As an aside, I only had the scout team deliberate on wide based, high traction robots. Then on Saturday, after all the bad PR from losing communications in 2 of our last 3 matches, I figured the goats wouldn't pick us. I also assumed 3940, the other consistent key shooter that complimented us, would be picked as well. At that point, I didn't think we could out score the number one seed, since they would also have the same crap shoot at a 3 wide bot balance. Team 1501 was our best chance at making a run in the tournament, and I was so relieved when they said yes.

Team 1756 is very grateful to all of the volunteers, and especially thankful to everyone that helped us resolve our communication issues.

Thank you, to Team 1501 and Team 4028 for making such a great and balanced alliance. I would also like to personally thank Chris, 1501 Drive Coach, for all of his help through the elimination rounds.

Re: 2012 - Boilermaker Regional
 

If we would have thought it through more when we were putting together our scouting list we would have picked you, 1501. Our scouting list got all sorts of messed up there right before alliance selection, and when our first pick turned us down it really threw us off. But, we recovered and ended up with a wonderful alliance. Thank you to Team 3940 for being a great alliance to form our rookie dynamic.