2014 Wisconsin Regional

[KelliV]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Do my eyes deceive me or am I seeing Wildstang near the bottom of the standings winless through seven matches? What's the story?

I am surprised too. I hope they figure it out, I'm sure they will. They always seem to.
Super awesome to see so many of the other teams I root for way up there in the standings (1675 UPS is one of the NICEST groups of kids & mentors in FIRST)!
Wish I could head on out there to watch but I am stuck working and the cost to park is a huge deterrent for only two hours at the event. Good luck teams.

[Zach101]

It was a long and hard battle for 1st place. Very intense and was so exciting. We (2512) made it to the quarter finals. Teams 2202, 2481, and and 1732 won.

[SkittlesCharge]

Thanks to both Team 3418 Robo Riot and Team 2039 Rockford Robotics for helping carry us to the semifinals. We had a lot of fun with all of you and hope to see you next year!

Wisconsin was a great event as usual. Congrats to all the winning teams. 2481, your bot is the reason we are already considering swerve for next year. Good job to 1732 on their second Wisconsin win in a row, and congratulations to 2202 on their first regional win. Also great job to 2081 on their Engineering Inspiration - we really enjoyed working with you guys when we were paired together. Have fun at St. Louis, all of you!

[Kevin Kolodziej]

WOW!! What a regional! This has to have been the best WI Regional ever. The teams were outstanding, the competition was fierce, the arena was just buzzing with energy and spirit, the volunteers were outstanding. Well Done Everyone!

Team 1675 UPS had a great time all weekend. Thanks everyone for the compliments and encouragement throughout the weekend. We typically do not have a great showing at our home regional (in terms of robot AND team) but everything clicked for us this weekend and it was a great way to celebrate our 10th anniversary at home.

Thanks to 2470 - Blitz Team and 192 - GRT for being outstanding partners in the finals. You guys were great to work with. We had the #1 seed beat, but alas, fouls sent us packing. Thanks for selecting us and giving us a chance, and especially thanks to 192 for spending so much time trying to help us get our release mechanism figured out. We've already ordered parts to make this a non-issue in Chicago.

Special shout out to 2202 B'EAST Robotics. I got to know this team a little bit in the fall and they reminded me so much of our team and the progression they've made over their 7 years. Congrats on the win and earning a spot in St. Louis and congratulations to Richard for the WFA!!! You truly deserve it!!

Finally, HUGE congrats to 1732 - Hilltopper Robotics for an amazing run in the finals - I can't think of a better way to honor Drew. The video tribute on Saturday morning moved me to tears and your robot tribute capturing Gold was a fitting end to the day

[Sunshine]

Well said Kevin! Ditto on the competition and the tribute.

We knew we had our work cut out for us with all the battle tested teams we were up against. We take solace knowing that the great competition in Wisconsin has made our team better and stronger for Midwest.

It was great seeing everyone and getting a chance to catch up. Very well run. 60 teams and no hickups. We were done in record time. Thanks to all the volunteers and regional planning committee.

[Cataclysmatic]

4296 here,

We had a lot of fun this regional, and finally being able to give some sort of showing at the Wisconsin regional this year (9th of 60) in comparison to last year (45th of 57). We also showed that defense can really help win games, being able to place 9th by playing almost solely defense/intake every single qualifier match. On that note, if anyone happens to have video of Quarter Final 4-Match 3, I would LOVE to see it... I was concentrated so much on defense of that last autonomous goal that I didn't actually see any of the rest of the match... I honestly don't even remember the score/how close it was or anything haha.

Congratulations to 1732, 2202, and 2481 for their victory... we ended up getting a lot closer than we thought we would facing you guys 2 vs 3 for a majority of our match in our second match in the semi-finals.(A MASSIVE thank you to 167 for this and their carry of scoring for us, while we remained on defense).
It was well fought by both alliances in the finals and I enjoyed being able to watch both matches. I can't wait to see you all again in St. Louis

Thank you for the alliance selection by 2530 and 167, we are glad to have continued strengthening 4296's bond with 167 from CIR and now through Wisconsin and hope to continue to form stronger bonds with the rest of the teams that we meet. We apologize about not being able to load a ball for autonomous for our last two matches; the reason for it was due to a pneumatics leak prior to the first match that we were not able to fix with the whole timeout problem, and when we were able to fix the leak between the matches, we were then short on time to actually pressurize our system. All I know of from the problems that 2530 was having was a battery problem the very first match in Quarters, and something regarding a motor controller for semis, didn't really ask for a more in depth response, there wasn't much need. Everyone had fought as hard as they could and I am extremely proud of our alliance and how well we had competed and worked together.

Thank you everyone for the great regional, hope to see some more of you guys later in St. Louis!

[ehochstein]

It was 2470's first time at the Wisconsin Regional and for over 50% of our team, it was the first time they had ever experienced a FIRST Robotics Competition Event. We went into this event knowing that it was going to be an extremely competitive regional and we came out in very high spirits. We would have never guessed that we would rank 8th and become alliance captains at the beginning of the event.

192 - GRT Thanks for being amazing alliance partners! We really had a great strategy going into the quarter finals and it was a winning strategy until the penalties changed that. Your two ball autonomous was great and one of the main reasons we picked you for our alliance. We hope to work with you again in the future!

1675 - UPS You guys are one of my favorite teams in Wisconsin (although, I may be biased thanks to Renee) and we were proud to have you as an alliance partner. It sounds like you guys have worked the kinks out of your shooter, I wish you luck at Midwest and we hope to see you at Champs!

Congratulations to 1732, 2202 and 2481, you guys made a great alliance and I am sure you will do well to represent the Wisconsin Regional at Championships!

[ElvisMom]

Originally Posted by Kevin Kolodziej

Finally, HUGE congrats to 1732 - Hilltopper Robotics for an amazing run in the finals - I can't think of a better way to honor Drew. The video tribute on Saturday morning moved me to tears and your robot tribute capturing Gold was a fitting end to the day

Yes, thanks to the Hilltoppers for sharing Drew's smile with all of us who did not know him personally. Not many dry eyes, but making it loud in his memory was the perfect way to start off Saturday.

[orangemoore]

Team 3135 had an interesting time at Wisconsin. We certainly had a lot of problems but we had a lot of fun anyways. We are now ready for Midwest.

For those who are interested one of our problems at Wisconsin was our digital sidecar which we destroyed due to a piece of metal causing a short between two pins(that is what I understand it was) right before a match.

Because of it we couldn't play for 3 matches. The first was the match when it shorted out. The second we were fixing the Digital sidecar, and the third we made it to the match with the wrong bumpers and we couldn't change them in time.

Here is what it looked like and the last frame that our camera saw.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/31l26rmp8v416jb/photo%201.JPG

https://www.dropbox.com/s/yp0if85h43...22_173900.jpeg

The camera was placed directly above the Digital Sidecar.

[themagic8ball]

Just want to reiterate everyone's thoughts about how great this regional was. I think it is amazing the quantity of high caliber teams in Wisconsin and how we continue to push each other to be better. Congrats to the winning alliance (special shout out to 2202) and all the teams that won awards. Cannot wait for next year!

[wesbass23]

Those were certainly some intense eliminations, it is too bad some of them had to be decided by fouls.

I want to thank our alliance captain 2481 for looking past some of our issues Saturday morning and trusting in us to follow through for you guys. It was so nice not to have to go bumper to bumper with you guys in eliminations again. It was awesome being able to be apart of both yours and 2202's first regional win. You guys were excellent partners to work with.

Congrats to our friends 1714 on the RCA. You guys certainly deserve it!

I look forward to seeing a number of great teams from this regional down at Midwest in a couple weeks!

[Uffdaboy]

It was 3018's first time at the Wisconsin regional, and we sure had a great time! Many thanks to our alliance partners 706 Cyberhawks and 1259 Paradigm Shift for working hard with us all the way through the elimination matches. Congrats to 2481 the Roboteers, 1732 Hilltoppers, and 2202 Beast Robotics for their victory, they were a solid alliance and we were honored to share the field with them!

[Sunshine]

Anyone know if videos of matches will be posted?

[barn34]

Wow. What a weekend. As many have already mentioned, this was quite possibly the most challenging regional in Wisconsin I've been a part of in my 6 years as a Roboteer mentor. I still don't think it's fully set it that we were able to be among the survivors of the crazy war of balls and bumpers to finally take home our first blue banner. Huge thanks and congratulations go out to our amazing alliance partners from 1732 and 2202, as well as finalists 3018, 706, and 1259. It was an honor to share the field with you all at the end.

Hilltoppers, it was an honor to be able to finally work with you guys instead of being matched up opposite each other to trade bumper scars like in years past. I'm incredibly happy that we were able to help you guys complete the perfect end to a Saturday that started with such an emotional tribute to Drew. Like I mentioned to several of you throughout our crazy run through elims, he was most definitely a part of this special run. While I did not know him personally, I'm sure we all collectively made him proud and we couldn't have done anything more to make it louder after that final buzzer sounded and that score was revealed. Best of luck to you guys in Midwest and we look forward to seeing you again in St. Louis!

B'East, it was incredibly special to share the euphoria of that first regional victory with you guys! Amazing job throughout the competition and we will definitely be looking for you guys in St. Louis. We were incredibly shocked that you were available to join our alliance at pick 15, but extremely excited that you were. It's just another testament to how stacked this regional actually was when a team of your caliber was available at that slot. Best of luck to you guys moving forward and if you ever need any assistance, you'll never have to look any further than our pit.

Also, congratulations to 1714 on a much deserved Chairman's award! As your video fully demonstrated, you guys are the absolute embodiment of what FIRST stands for. Absolutely inspiring. Best of luck and can't wait to see you guys in St. Louis, as well. Hopefully, we'll finally get that chance to hook up with some truss passes!

Special shout out to our friends from teams 2826 and 4143 for your assistance with batteries, breakers, and general emotional support throughout our run through elims. It's always an honor to compete with you guys and your teams are true class acts through and through. I'm still a firm believer that one of you guys missed out on an opportunity to get something more out of your used frame trade on Saturday, though. Can't wait to see you all again!

[Zach101]

It was great competing with you guys in the quarter finals. Your alliance was a great challenge to compete with and you guys definitely deserve this. Good luck in St. Louis and thanks for the great matches