[Mark Holschuh]

Fondy Fire also sends kudos to John Wanninger for getting the Woodie Flowers Award. John and his wife Sue have done so much over the years.

Also congrats to More Robotics for winning the Chairman's Award. They have definitely done Dean's Homework. I swear they must be looking for opportunities to demonstrate a robot. I thought it was great when some team in the upper deck started chanting "wicked awesome" when the award was announced.

NEW Apple Corps are definitely our Engineering Inspiration. They have showed us how to succeed since our first kickoff meeting. We couldn't be happier that they won the Engineering Inspiration Award, and also finished in the 2nd place alliance with King TeC, Lakeview Legends, and the Badger Bots.

Congrats to the winners, Extreme Engineering, CORE Robotics, and the Millerbots. Our team shared scouting duties with Extreme Engineering, and they also have one of our alumni as a mentor at UW-Platteville. Your alliance showed how important it is to have a durable robot at a FIRST competition.

Our hearts go out to Winnovation. I was packing up in the pits, and I knew it was bad when I saw one of your team sprint by us carrying an arbor press. We were very impressed with your performance at both the Midwest and Wisconsin Regionals. Team Driven and Chop Shop both came a long way to Wisconsin, and you all have great teams and great robots.

Thanks to the Masters of Machinery and the High Jumps for choosing us as an alliance partner. We gave it a good run.

My favorite play of the day happened in Quarterfinal 1, Match 1, when I believe it was Charger Robotics that stuck up their arm and blocked successively launched trackballs from Winnovation and Team Driven. I can't wait for that video to be posted.

All the rookie teams did great at Wisconsin. Thanks to all the veteran teams that helped the rookies as needed.

Thanks to all the volunteers who made everything possible. FIRST couldn't survive without you.

Finally, congrats to the Lancer Robotics team from Honolulu. Your team was well prepared, you consistently scored 8 points in hybrid, and you never got any penalties. The cost of entering the Wisconsin Regional - $4000. Shipping your robot back to Hawaii - $3000. Airfare, hotel and food for each person - $1000+. Winning Rookie All-Star (and sponsorship to go to Atlanta) - Priceless!