[Jon Stratis]

Texas is following pretty much the same path as Minnesota and Arizona - a separate "offseason" state championship with invites based on rankings. Connecticut is a little different - being smaller, everyone gets in. The ranking system Minnesota and Arizona use is a slightly modified district ranking system - modified to account for most teams attending just one event, and to help encourage more participation in the Chairman's award (which, by the way, has done great things for us!). I'm the one who ran the official numbers for both MN and Arizona last year, and have already talked with Texas at champs last year about bringing them in as well. It's a nice automated system I created, fully tested and verified, which is a whole lot better than the manual calculations we did a few years ago.

As for the potential for two championships down the road... I would trust that the planning committee and UIL are thinking about it in the back of their minds - I know we are in MN. No idea yet exactly how things will shake out, but I do know that the State trophies here are a big thing for teams - in many cases bigger than regional or champs awards. The state trophies are exactly the same as the ones other sports get, which helps teams to increase recognition and understanding within their school. After all, it's just one more sport at that point, not some goofy robotics thing that has awards you don't recognize or know what they mean. I know, it's a little odd thinking about it that way, but you have to shift your view to that of an outsider passing the trophy case in the hall that knows nothing of FIRST. To them, our trophies don't mean much.