[Emily Pease]

First, I would like to say that I really enjoyed the whole event. It was my first time to Championships, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was blown away by many things, including but not limited to Vex, Larry Page, Lego League, and the afterparty.

However, one thing that irked me, and maybe I'm just not as informed about this as I should be, so feel free to set me straight if I'm wrong here. My team (125) played 8 matches in the Qualifying rounds, and we were just filling out the alliance in the last match, so it didn't count for us. Our alliance won, but since it didn't count for us, our ranking dropped because our alliance members' ranking went up. It's definitely better that we won, because our ranking would have dropped even more if we had lost, but I wonder if it seems right that we should have dropped at all, since we were just helping to fill the alliance, AND our alliance won. We were ranked 22nd (and marked as 5-2, even though in real life, we were 6-2) after this match, and were not picked to move on to quarter-finals.

I really don't think this one match caused us to NOT be picked, and I don't know if anyone would want to change the ranking system just for such a small minority of teams who would be affected by this situation, but the whole ordeal confuses me, and I am going to stop thinking about it.

Overall, though, I'm so proud of my team and I loved the event and I'm truly happy for 503, 67, and 330, and YAY Newton!