[Kyle Reese]

A team I'm surprised hasn't been mentioned yet is 5254, HYPE.

In their rookie year, they did fairly ok, seeding 14th out of 49 at their only event, got picked as the third robot on the 5th alliance, and lost in the quarterfinals. I can't talk as well about their 2014 year as others, but it wasn't a year in which they were a standout sensation.

At the Tech Valley Regional in 2015, they seeded 15th out of 36, then were picked by us as the 5th seeded captain. We pointed out to them that their robot could benefit from a ramp when stacking. Their output went from maybe half a stack in quals to 2-ish stacks in playoffs. They kept it up in quals at the Finger Lakes Regional and seeded 1st, unfortunately falling in finals. Through a wildcard, they got to champs where they were the first pick on the 6th alliance in the Carson Division. They then went on to get invited to IRI, and got selected to be on an alliance with the best of the best, as they started putting up 3 stacks per match, either hp or landfill. They won both Rah Cha Cha Ruckus and the Tech Valley Robot Rumble offseason events as they continued to improve throughout their entire season. That was really the season when they went from mediocre to great.

And they continued this year, releasing a reveal video week three, seeding second and first at their two regional events, and placing 6th in FRC Top 25 week 3 and 22nd in FRC Top 25 week 4. Along with their season performance, they also got into IRI for the second year in a row and were able to get to the semifinals.

Their constant improvement has really boosted them up in the FRC rankings, and they are definitely fit to play with the big dogs. It's been great to work with them for the past two years, and I can't wait to see what they can do in the future.