There have been some incredible drive systems created this year. Team 190, 211, and 357 omni directional drive trains using a mechanum wheel. I believe if not all 2 of these three teams won one of the engineering awards. If you have not seen any of these three teams, what a mechanum wheel does is it is designed to slip under friction so that the robot can move laterally. However unlike an omni wheel, the mechanum wheel in fact is hard to push side to side. See the thread posted below for a picture and some better descriptions. Even though you guys may have an awesome gear box that has multiple different speeds, and can shift on the fly, it has been done before. While you guys built what sounds to be a very nice and robust drive-train, people, unfortunately, do not see the big deal in just reproducing something that has been done.
This does not mean that you have to get all discouraged about it. It just means you may have to work a little bit harder to find something new and apply it towards your goal. Trust me if you are going to Nationals, you will be able to show off the potential of your drive-train.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...=pic%3A+Jester