Las Vegas Update

[Cory]

This really sucks.

What a crappy place to cut the feed.

[Winged Globe]

Well, looks like the red alliance came back to win the tie-breaker match in SF 2.3
http://www2.usfirst.org/2005comp/Events/NV/matches.html ...still, it's not the same..

[tkwetzel]

Congratulations to teams 987, 64, and 1527 for winning the 2005 Las Vegas regional.

[Airforce1000]

Thanks. We had tons of fun. We always tend to get the harder brackets of the elimination rounds, but we still prevailed. The competition was great and we got a run for our money. Hope to see some of you all at the Nats.

[SteveO]

Originally Posted by tkwetzel

Congratulations to teams 987, 64, and 1527 for winning the 2005 Las Vegas regional.

Thank you! We never really had time to get online at all today so I will post the final awards and whatnot.

1425 was ranked number 1, in front of us and 368.
987 (us), 64 and 1527 won the regional, with finalists 1425, 359 and 991.
The awards went like this:
Chairmans - 60
Engineering Inspiration - 1266
Imagery - 64
Innovation in Control - 1120
Creativity - 878
Delphi Tomorrow's Technology - 368
Entrepreneurship - 60
Judge's Awards - 1159, 1661
Website - 1527
Autodesk Visualization - 1110
WFA - Pattie Adkins (1505)
GM Industrial Design - us (987)
Motorola Quality - 64
Sportsmanship - 1120
Spirit - 473
Safety - 64
Rookie Inspiration - 1527
Rookie Highest Seed and All Star - 1641

And I'm pretty sure thats all. Everything is on the FIRST site, if anyone has questions post or PM me. Thanks and Congrats to all!

-Steve

[Joshua May]

I have to say the Las Vegas Regional was the best event I have ever been to, it was awesome. And being from Pattie Adkins' old team, I can testify that she truly deserved this Woodie Flowers Award.

[Ryan Dognaux]

It looked like a good regional from the broadcast, I just want to congratulate team 60 for winning the Chairmans Award. You guys definately deserve it, and congrats to the winning alliance. Hopefully someone can get those final matches uploaded on the internet soon, I would've liked to have seen them.

[gobeavs]

Congrats teams 987, 64, and 1527 from team 1425. I wish we would have put up a little more of a fight there in the finals....but oh well . That defensive robot really gave us some problems there..along with some mechanical problems with our alliance. Great matches, and a great alliance - you deserved it.

It was an extremely fun regional...extremely exciting also. Seeding for a lot of the top 10 teams came down to the last 2 qualifying matches. Thanks to all who participated.

[jpsaul7usa]

Congrats to 60 on the Chairman's Award! I'm happy to see you all get some well earned recognition.

Congrats also to 987, 64, and 1527, as well as to the finalists 1425, 359, and 991. High rollers and Dukes: How'd you guys end up on opposite sides of the field in finals so soon after being partners in the AZ finals?

[DukesAZ]

Congrats also to 987, 64, and 1527, as well as to the finalists 1425, 359, and 991. High rollers and Dukes: How'd you guys end up on opposite sides of the field in finals so soon after being partners in the AZ finals?

The Dukes were ranked 19th going into alliance selection (the sad part was that we were running better than we ever have, we just had some alliances that didn't work out). We were the third pick of the first seed alliance (987 was second). I would have loved to played with 987 again, but the alliance we ended up on was solid and it was a thrill to play with 1452 and 359.

987 deserved that win. I had no problem losing to them. They had a great robot and a great team and I hope they dominate at nationals along with 359 and 1452.

[Andy Baker]

The Las Vegas Regional was great. It had a good mix of veteran teams and rookie teams, with many rookie teams looking like veterans.

This regional is fortunate to have great event sponsors, including UNLV. The Thomas & Mack arena is the nicest FIRST Regional site I have ever been to (with a close second being the Peterson Center in Pittsburgh). The field was set down on the floor level while the spectators seats started at about 10 feet above the arena floor. This was similar to a colesium setup where robots and drive teams took the place of gladiators.

On Thursday and Friday, the arena's seats were too comfortable and the teams seemed just happy to be there, as everyone was fairly reserved. Somehow, everything changed on Saturday and the excitement of a FIRST competition was pumping through the air. It was a combination of Morrella's scripted tunes (at one point they played Motley Crue and Abba back to back), Blair's energetic introductions, and a greatly heightened level of play by the competing teams. Veteran volunteers were scratching our heads on Friday but raising our eyebrows on Saturday, that is for sure.

It was neat to get to know all of the teams. That is the benefit of being a robot inspector. I definitely enjoyed getting to know Josh and "Garth" on 1110 along with the "High Rollers" of 987 with Marc Rogers and SteveO (pssst... they will make a splash in Atlanta), and many other people on great teams.

I was just one of many volunteers who had the pleasure of working with these teams. While many of the volunteers were FIRST veterans who flew in to help, other volunteers were new to FIRST but will be valuable to the growth in the Vegas area. It's pretty cool to see the director of engineering at UNLV as an inspector. That level of commitment is inspiring.

It was good to see team 60 win Chairman's Award and 64 qualify for the Championships with a win. Also, the GP of the attending Hawaiian teams was on display for all to see. While things didn't always go their way, they set an example in class and dignity.

This regional, even with many rookie teams attending, had a good number of strong robots that could compete at any regional across the nation. At the same time, some other teams didn't get their capping mechanisms to work. The most impressive thing to me was the determination of some teams to stick with their strategy and get their robot to work. There were a few inspriational teams who finally got their arms to operate on Saturday after de-bugging their robots all weekend.

The Las Vegas Regional has a great future. The site is great, the city is fun, the teams are gracious, and the competition level, while good now, will only get better.

Andy B.

[SuperDave]

Thanks Andy for all the wonderful comments about the LV Regional and our team. I'm glad you had a good time in our hometown. I am especially glad that being my 4th and final year as a student in FIRST, i was able to be a part of the first ever Las Vegas Regional. It was really awesome being able to show FIRST to my friends and family. Videos of the competition don't do justice to what it is really like. Also, there is no better way to win a regional for the first time than to win it in your hometown's innagural regional event.

Again, thank you Andy for your time volunteering. You are a role model for all people in the FIRST Competition. Goodluck at Nationals!!!

Dave Rhoads
Team 987 Driver

[i_am_Doug]

i would like to say congrats to the high rollers and bionic bulldogs and... oh the gila monzters. it was a good match, i would also like to thank are alliance partners the DUKES and the HAWAIIAN KIDS we had a good match... cya next year!

[Weightmn]

Oh behalf of the Gila Monster's we had a great time in Las Vegas. We would like to thank everyone who made it all possible--too many to list. We appreiciate everyone who volunteered/worked to put this event on for us all to participate in. Without you none of this would be possible- so thank you all very much!

The competition was very nicely done, organized nicely and held in a great place. GREAT JOB!

The competition itself was a nail biter at the end but all worked out awesome. We are very glad to have participated in the 1st Las Vegas Regional and excited to have been one of the winning teams.
Thanks and great job to our alliance partners!!!!

Diane- Gila Monster's Web Mentor

[SuperDave]

1425, 991, and 359.... GREAT JOB as finalists. Also, i want to mention that team 987 would like to let team 473 from Corvalis, MT, know that we think their team and robot are both a class act.

BTW, team 987 has had alot of local publicity in the Las Vegas area during and after the regional, hopefully soon we will have video clips of our interview on our website.

I hope to see you all at nationals.