[Rob Stehlik]

Wow, wow, wow! Our experience in Arizona was spectacular! I was so impressed with the warmth and hospitality shown to us by all the wonderful Arizona teams. Your enthusiasm is amazing. On Saturday night we just so happened to be at the same restaurant as team 1011. They all got up and stood around our table and gave us a standing ovation! It was a tad overwhelming. There were many more instances where teams stopped by to give us an encouraging word, and just lavish praise on our robot. It really was great to meet so many wonderful people. Arizona has got to be one of the friendliest regionals in First.
The fact that we were able to pull off our first win in 10 years was great, but my lasting impression will be of how wonderful the Arizonan teams are.

Team 842: it was fantastic working with a world class team such as yourselves. We may have ranked number 1, but that was due to some dumb luck on our part. You definitely carried the alliance in the finals. We couldn't have won without you.

Team 1212: thanks for being a great alliance partner. Those bridge points were important!

Team 1011: your enthusiasm and kindness are remarkable. You built one of the most beautiful robots I have seen yet. The turret and shooter is a work of art. Keep up the hard work and I expect big things in your future.

Team 1726: your ability to keep things simple yet effective are inspiring.

Team 4126: this being your rookie year, I'm sure it was overwhelming, but I can see a lot of potential. You team worked well together under pressure. We loved sharing the best pit ever with you.

Team 383: your robot was a mechanical engineering tour de force. Four speed transmission, eight wheel rocker suspension, centrifugal flywheel weights for the shooter... It was quite a treat looking through your CAD assembly.

To all of the people who dropped by our pits to chat and ask about our robot: thanks for your kinds words and curiosity. One of the best things about First is touring the pits and seeing how other teams have tackled the same problem.

Thanks for a great experience. We would love to come back some time.