[Rich Kressly]

What an incredible time J&J was for Team 103. The feeling a regional Chairman's Award brings is beyond description and not possible without inspiring people and other inspiring teams. Wayne Cokeley is one such person and 25 is one such team. As our #2 alliance (Thanks 87 and 222!) was running against 25 and their #1 alliance (with 102 and 340) in the finals, all of this became abundantly clear. After we lost two drill motors in the first match of the finals, the 25 alliance had a formidable lead. In fact, all they needed to do was keep the score low, collect their banner and save the machine for Houston. Forget that! 25 continued to play the game the way it was meant to be played all the way to the buzzer. Their machine was protecting a stack, battling at the top of the ramp, pushing and shoving with 87 and 222, trying to win the match at all costs. What a show for the J&J crowd. I sincerely hope all of you who attended regionals where "collusion" was taking place are reading this. Winning isn't everything, but making the effort to is. Big scores don't matter, but big character does. Thanks to Wayne and 25, there are a bunch of students in North Brunswick (and now in Hightstown, too) who will become gracious professionals because of the example they have to follow.

Thanks to everyone else who made J&J so great this year:
Paul Kloberg, Kim Keller, Volunteers, 303, 87, 222, 102, 56, 84, and anyone else I may have forgotten.