Wow, what an event. Even though I'm no longer on a team anymore, I did a fair bit of running around for 1126. I saw a lot of great teams compete, and a lot of teams I know SparX looks forward to seeing in St.Louis.
1126 started out really rough. We were having trouble on our new drive system, our auto targeting wasn't working, and our bridge manipulator was pretty sub-par. Thursday and Friday, we didn't really do much as a whole. Lot's of software changes, some critical decisions, a lot of hard work and lots of hours later, we had a robot that may not have been perfect, but it carried it's weight in matches, and got us onto the 5th seeded alliance. Thanks to 174 for allowing us to be on their alliance, and to 3173, for making a great partner. We look forward to working with you in the coming years
1507, 191 and 3951 was an unreal alliance. When I saw 1507 compete at Rally, I knew right off the bat they were going to be in line for winning the whole thing. When the X-Cats hit the field with that amazing robot of theirs, the deal was sealed. Throwing in one of the stand-out rookies at the event in 3951, that was icing on the cake.
340, 3015, 4124, and 3044. Honestly, as much as I loved your opponents in the finals, I was pulling for you. Maybe I'm biased because 1126 and 340 went to the finals last year, and I wanted to see 340 finish the job, but I was rooting so hard for you guys. The outcome was as expected (they were the #1 seeded alliance after all), but you guys put up one heck of a fight. If 3015 hadn't broken down that last match, I think you guys could have done it. Oh well, that's how it goes sometimes. I hope next year you get back to that stage, and maybe we can be there next to you again
Also, congrats to 340 on another Chairman's Award. We still hope one day to earn that honor, but it's be hard to live up to the standard set by our friends from Churchville
A quick shout out goes to 639. 639, who hasn't been able to go to the world championships since 2005, earned the Engineering Inspiration award, and thus qualified to go! I watched their team's reaction as they realized they could go to St.Louis, and I was so proud of the team that 1126 has become such good friends with in recent years.
Congrats to everyone on another great Finger Lakes Regional. I'm considering volunteering next year, but one way or another, I look forward to seeing everyone again