[Nick Lawrence]

This regional is probably the most fun one I've ever had the opportunity to be involved in. I have lots of friends in the northeast, and it was really really cool to compete with and against you. Being able to look in almost any direction in the Verizon Wireless Arena and see a friendly, familiar face is something I only used to experience at Canadian regionals.

Specifically, I wanted to thank a few certain individuals and groups.

First and foremost I wanted to thank James Temple, Joe Sanchez, Libby Kamen and the entire 229/4124 program. You guys are some of the friendliest and easiest to work with people I've had the opportunity to share the field with. It's a rare thing to be able to walk into your pit to chat about whatever immediately before and after competing against you on the field. Thank you, for being awesome. Wall of Green forever, eh?

Second, I want to thank team 3609. To be completely honest you should never have been on our alliance, you should have gotten picked long before we had the opportunity to ask you to join up with us and 4124. You guys were one of the few teams to really make our drive team's job difficult in the qualification rounds, and we definitely took notice. You guys played amazing defence on whoever we needed you to and were willing to do whatever was asked of you. I'm so happy for you guys to make only your second trip to the elimination rounds, and to win the whole thing. On the back of my medal from this weekend is a little bit of duct tape. Thank you for being awesome, hope to see you in St. Louis in a couple months!

Third, I wanted to thank all the regional staff and volunteers for putting on such a fantastic show. The BAE Systems Granite State Regional is one of the best run events I have ever been to, with super polite and friendly volunteers. I would recommend this event to any FRC team.

Finally, I want to thank all of the students and mentors on 610. I came to this team late in the 2012 season, and was welcomed right into the Crescent Robotics program. You guys are some of the most dedicated and professional people I've ever met in FRC. The students sometimes make it difficult to remember that you're high school students. Thank you for making FRC fun again for me, looking forward to more in the future!

-Nick