[Karthik]

Aside from the nonsense during the semifinals, The Waterloo Regional was once again an amazing event. It was great to see our friends from Team 254 make the journey all the way from California, and even better watching their robot dominate on the field. Our team had a lot of fun hanging out with you guys and is looking forward to doing more of it in St. Louis.

Congratulations to Team 2056 on extending their regional win streak to 18. You guys kept improving throughout the weekend, and proved to everyone why doubting 2056 is never a good idea. It's easy to forget how impressive your streak actually is. We're now on eight seasons of 2056 never losing a regional, competing against the top teams in FIRST. Unreal. Also, congratulations to Team 865 on their 3rd ever regional win. It was great seeing you convert from a defensive robot in qualifying to an assisting robots in the eliminations.

A special shoutout goes to Team 3683, on earning their first ever trip champs with a Wildcard generated by Team 254. We love working with you guys both at our practice field and at competition. We're pumped to see you see you show off your robot on the big stage in St. Louis.

Thank you to our alliance partners Team 4039 and 4907. In case you haven't been paying attention, Team 4039 has been the most under the radar team in FIRST over the past two seasons. We really hope you qualify for Champs in NYC, because it would be a shame to see an elite robot as theirs miss out on chance to play with and against the best.

In terms of individuals, three people very close to our team took home some hardware this weekend. Tarjote Chaggar from 2056 won the Volunteer of the Year, Matt Alderson from 4039 won the WFFA and Krysta Peralto from 3161 won her second Dean's List Finalist Award. It was great to see such amazing people earn these prestigious honours.

Finally congratulations to Team 1334 for a long overdue Chairman's Award. I've thought you've deserved a CA for the past 5 years, but for whatever reason you kept getting passed over. It rather satisfying to see you finally get the recognition your program deserves.