[Andy Baker]

One word: WOW.

Get this... 10 teams ventured outside of Indiana to play FIRST last weekend. All 10 made the elimination rounds of their tournaments. Here is the rundown:


71 won the St. Louis Regional and won Chairman's Award.

135 was a first-round pick at Buckeye Regional but lost to another Indiana alliance in the quarter finals.

234 won many awards (Imagery, Entrepreneurship, Website) out in Arizona, highlighted with Chris Fultz being named the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winner.

393 travelled to Pittsburgh, seeded #2 overall and wound up losing in the finals. These Full Metal Jackets also won the GM Industrial Design award.

461 was in Buckeye, and they also rocked the house. They seeded #8, won the website award, and also lost in the finals. Also... they won the Engineering Inspiration award AND... "Flo" (Steve Florence) was announced as the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winner in Cleveland.

868 was also in Pittsburgh, where they won the Xerox Creativity Award AND the Autodesk Visualization Award. The TechHouds were knocked out in a 3-match quarterfinal round.

1018 was also at the Buckeye Regional. They placed 2nd alongside 461 during an exciting run through the finals.

1024 is another team who went to Cleveland. They seeded #3 and lost in the semi-finals.

1646 was part of the Buckeye Regional also. They were a 2nd round pick (by 1024) but lost in the semi-finals.

1747 of course joined their bretheren at the Buckeye Regional. They were a 1st round pick, but were eliminated in the quarter-finals. They won the Autodesk Visualization Award, the Rookie Inspiration Award, and were the Highest Rookie Seed.

This reminds me of 2004 Championships, when 5 of the top 24 teams were from Indiana. Rock on, Indiana FIRST teams.

Andy B.