2011 Palmetto Reigional *New Location*

[thedries]

I would just like to thank everyone that participated in last weekend's regional; from the teams, the mentors, the volunteers, the judges and the referees. It has been quite a while since our last visit to Palmetto (2006), but I don't know why didn't return sooner, everyone was a nice as could be and it was great to just be a part of the fun. Plus the weather was amazing! It was a nice reprieve from the snow & hail in NJ.

It was a roller-coaster of highs and lows for us, this regional was truly a unique experience. We are humbled by the reception we received, and I am so amazed and proud of our students, who put in countless hours since last season restructuring and streamlining all the processes behind the scenes. We are excited to compete at St. Louis for the Chairman's Award and are relieved that the pressure is off for Virginia so we can just go and have fun.

180, 2363 & 2815: You guys were are a great alliance and worked really well together. You all showed us the importance of reliability and consistency in your performances over the weekend; you guys deserved to win. We were looking forward to competing against you, but alas, it was not in the cards. Hopefully we will see you again in St. Louis, and we look forward to seeing 2363 also in Richmond.

343, 1287, 2751: We certainly don't consider you guys the "bad guys" at all, the rules are there for a reason, and we are glad that everything went by the book. It's a shame you were having so many problems with communications, after the first match against us you really showed us what a team that worked together could do. We bear you no ill-will for continuing on to the finals and wish you the best of luck in the future.

2614: Thanks for picking us! You guys are an amazing team and we are so glad to have worked with you and 1293. We knew this was your last regional this year, and were devastated when we couldn't help you get to St. Louis, but we were overjoyed to find out that you didn't need our help at all! Congrats on EI, it couldn't have been given to a better group of people! We look forward to seeing you in St. Louis!

1293: You guys were a tough bot that complimented us and MARS very well, thank you for joining us in the eliminations. We hope to work with you guys again soon!

We are also incredibly excited about all the friends we made down in Charleston, 2614, 1293, 180, 2363, 1902, 1319 and I know I'm forgetting so many more. Thanks again to everyone for a great weekend and we wish you all the best.