What a fantastic regional! Thank you to all of the judges, referees, field reset people, and event staff for making this event possible.
It seemed like we were seeing team 1816 shirts everywhere helping out. The GP award was well deserved, and it was a pleasure being pit neighbors and watching how hard you guys work.
Thank you to the Fighting Calculators for providing an excellent webcast. It meant alot for my family to be able to follow the team while we were away.
We were fortunate enough to spend most of Friday and Saturday as the number one seed. The world class "Team Hammond" snatched it away with a fantastic performance in their final match. Thank you for inviting us to join your #1 alliance. You would have been our pick had we remained #1.
Team 2667, you were everything we needed in a third alliance partner. In the quater and semifinals you set excellent picks that allowed us (1986) and 71 to get open for shots. In the final match when the picks weren't working so well you moved to the back and played excellent defense on team 171. You caught our eye Saturday morning with your excellent defensive style in the quals.
To 171 and 537 when you joined up we knew it would take our best game to pull off a victory, but when 2041 somehow stayed available for your third pick I was genuinely scared by the overall amount of power and speed your team possessed. You gave us all we could handle for sure. 2041 twice broke a wheel off on our rear ends with their "take no prisioners" defense. I don't think my heart could have taken another tie.
Congrats to 537 on the Chairman's. I heard that it was your first in 10 years of submitting. It is great to see a program that has demonstrated longevitiy, sustainability, and outreach to the community receive some recognition. Good luck in Atlanta.
To the only other team from the Kansas City area at North Star, 1764 (Liberty High School), congrats on the Engineering Inspiration Award. You guys truley understand that the robot is just a vehicle to inspire people. Between the Judge's Award in Kansas City and the E.I. at North Star it is clear that you leave a tremendous impression with the judges wherever you go. We look forward to working together with you as we make Kansas City a hot bed for robotics and FIRST.
We are very excited to be going to The Championship Event for the second year in a row. Believe me when I say we have not taken our recent success for granted. There are so many great teams and robots that we have met along the way. I wish you could all come with us.
Signing off to go raise some more money. FIRST is inspirational, but it ain't cheap. And winning seems to make it even more expensive.
