Chairman's Preview Week 2

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Hello all, Jacob and I are back again with some more previews for Week 2:

Arkansas Rock City looks like a rumble between several out of state teams with Chairman’s pedigrees as long as this sentence. From Wisconsin, Charger Robotics 537 is looking to build on their four previous RCAs, but they’ll be up against 931 from Oklahoma, who wants to get back into the Chairman’s game after a streak from ‘08 to ‘10. Rock City’s also got a few of up and comers looking to stake their claim in Little Rock -- 2338 took home their first RCA last year and is no doubt looking to repeat, while 5006 brought home an EI award in Oklahoma last year and wants to upgrade their hardware. We also have a local Hall of Fame team here, 16, who will no doubt be a huge part of making Rock City a great regional.

A lot of space has opened up in Flagstaff since the hometown favorites, 2486, have already brought home a Chairman’s Award this year. It’s a tossup on whether the Arizona North RCA will go to some of the local teams competing, such as 1011 CRUSH, who has been winning Engineering Inspiration awards every year since 2012 and could surely take the prize if they’re submitting, and 2375, who brought home the award at Arizona West last year, or one of the many teams visiting from out of state. One of these teams is 2996, Cougars Gone Wired, from Colorado, a team which has brought home three awards since 2011, another is 125 the NUTRONs from Massachusetts, who brought home an RCA from their visit to Florida last year. Also of note is a local Hall of Fame team, 842, who, while we wouldn’t expect them to submit, is definitely worth mentioning.

Sunny Los Angeles is looking at some stiff competition in the Chairman’s arena this year, between 399, Eagle Robotics, who competed in San Diego last week, and 987, HIGHROLLERS, who are looking to build on last year’s success in Dallas. Both have a long history with the award and look pretty evenly matched from a distance. For up and comers, we have 2576, Chilean Heart, who won it here in 2014, and 3476 Code Orange, who has brought home a Chairman’s Award the last couple of years. Our newest member of the Hall of Fame, 597, will also be making an appearance for their first tournament after getting the award.

The overwhelming favorite going into Orlando is 1902. Exploding Bacon has 3 RCA wins and 2 EI wins, but has never won Chairman’s Awards in consecutive years, so they’ll be looking to build their first-ever RCA streak. The Day-Glo pink dark horse is probably 233 -- they haven’t won an RCA since 2012, but they’ll be keeping Bacon on their toes. We could also see the award going to a visitor from another sunny beach--- 3880, Tiki Techs from Hawaii. They haven’t gone a year since 2011 without winning an Engineering Inspiration or a Regional Chairman’s Award, so look for them to give Bacon a run for their money.

Greater Kansas City, at first glance, looks like a lock for 1108. They have 8 Chairman’s banners in their 14 year history, but had an off year last year, so they’ll try to regain their Chairman’s stride. Interestingly, none of the main competitors at GKC won a Chairman’s Award last year, but 1939 and 1986 both took home Chairman’s banners in 2014, so they’ll be solidly in the running this weekend. Our final contender is 1730 -- although they haven’t won Chairman’s since 2011, they’ve won 5 Engineering Inspiration Awards in 11 years, so they’ll be in the running for a Chairman’s trophy at GKC.

St. Louis will be a face-off between the defending RCA winners, 2783, and 2015 Rock City RCA winners 3284. Neither team has won many Chairman’s Awards, but both had strong seasons last year, so either of them could easily punch their ticket to St. Louis (wait…) with a Chairman’s win. We could also see some midwesterners from out of state take home the award: 1675 won an RCA back in 2013, and 2081 has taken home three Engineering Inspiration awards but never Chairman’s.

Mexico City should be highly competitive for the Chairman’s Award, and there are three solid teams that could easily take home the blue banner. First on the list is 2283, arguably the strongest Mexican team in terms of outreach awards with 3 Engineering Inspiration Awards and 2 Regional Chairman’s Awards, including the 2015 Mexico City RCA. Next up is 3158, the 2014 Mexico City RCA winners, who’ll be looking to come back after an off year last year. Finally, there’s 3478, the youngest team on this list, but possibly the favorite as a result of their stratospheric success last year: regional Chairman’s, EI, Entrepreneurship, and divisional EI to end the year on a high note. Long story short: it’ll be muy difícil to win Chairman’s at Mexico City.

The favorite at Greater Toronto East is 1305 -- Ice Cubed has 6 RCAs under their belts, including a 3 year streak, but as we’ve said before, the Toronto regionals are crazy competitive. 1305’s main competition at GTR-E will be 1241, hot off an RCA win at GTR-C last year, and 1325, defending GTR-E Chairman’s winners. The dark horse could be 2056 - they’ve never won a Chairman’s Award at an event not named Waterloo, but they could pull out a Chairman’s win in Toronto this weekend.

The big question heading into Greater Pittsburgh is 340. They’ve got 8 (!) Regional Chairman’s Awards on their record, the second most of any team in FRC, but they missed out on another RCA banner last year. They’ll be trying to prove that they’re still GRR-eat against a field including defending Buckeye RCA winners 3504 and an interesting group of teams that has seen recent success, though not in the Chairman’s department -- all of them have gone at least three years without an RCA win. Those teams are 48, 128, 291, 337, and 3138, so look to them for a potential upset in Pittsburgh.

The RCA favorite for the Alamo regional is likely 2468. They’re looking for their 3 year Chairman’s streak to appreciate for another year, but they’ll be up against a strong group of competitors including 2014 Alamo RCA winners 624 and 2014 Dallas RCA winners 1477. Watch 2158 for a potential dark horse bid -- they won divisional EI on Archimedes two years ago, but they’ve flown under the radar in recent years for the Chairman’s Award.

Hot off a World Championship, 1671 will try to take home the Central Valley Regional Chairman’s Award, and as a result of their 2 year RCA streak, they’re the likely favorites in Madera. They’ll be up against 701, a team that’s been on the rise recently in terms of outreach awards, and 1323, who’ll be trying to win their first Chairman’s Award since 2013. For an outside the box candidate, look to 812, who took home a lot of EI and RCA hardware up until 2013.

New York City is hard to call for Chairman’s, though the favorites are probably 694 and 1660. StuyPulse had a 3 year RCA streak from 2010 through 2012, but has had a bit of a dry spell for Chairman’s ever since. The Harlem Knights took a Chairman’s blue banner home from the Javits Center in 2013, but haven’t seen much success since, so they’ll try to replicate their past success. NYC’s orange dark horse is 4481 -- they won EI as a second-year team in Virginia last year, so they’ll try to upgrade their hardware with their first-ever Chairman’s submission.

PNW
Wilsonville will feature 1540 butting heads with 4488. The Flaming Chickens have 6 RCA banners and a 4 year RCA streak to defend, but Shockwave pulled out a win against them as a second year team at Oregon City two years ago, so it should be interesting to see how both teams fare. 2990 and 4043 also deserve mentions, with the latter receiving a big MIT grant this year, so Wilsonville could also see an upset from one of these lesser-known teams. (Bonus prediction: 5975 will come home with a Rookie All-Star trophy as a result of their girls in STEM efforts -- impressive for any team, especially for a rookie team.)

Glacier Peak could see any of three teams walk away with a Chairman’s banner. 2522 won one of the inaugural DCMP RCAs in the PNW back in 2014, but missed out last year, so they’ll be trying to get back in the Chairman’s game. Also in contention is 2930, who came out of last season with district Chairman’s and EI trophies, plus DCMP EI and a ticket to St. Louis. The final contender is 4911, 2014 PNW RAS and 2015 DCA winners -- the CyberKnights have an insane amount of new outreach initiatives, so look to them to prove their Chairman’s-worthiness for the second year in a row.

FiM
Kettering #2
Muscling their way back after a 2014 DCA: 1506
Trying to engineer a win: 2337
Putting the pedal to the Metal (and Soul) on their DCA streak: 2604

Lakeview
2013 + 2014 DCAs: 2834
Wide-open for Chairman’s: this event

St. Joseph
5 Chairman’s Awards, but none since 2012: 66
Trying to make the judges say WO(BOT): 141
EI at St. Joseph last year, looking for better hardware: 2767

PCH
Columbus
2015 EI, think they OTTO win Chairman’s in Columbus: 1746
4 EI trophies, but no Chairman’s since 2010: 2415
Trying to keep the 3 year RCA streak alive: 2974

IN
Tippecanoe
Defending Indiana RCA winners: 135
Trying to restart their Chairman’s efforts: 1741

NE
North Shore
2 year DCA streak: 1058

WPI
Won Chairman’s at WPI 4 years ago, hoping the venue is lucky: 839
How ‘bout them (Chairman’s) apples: 2067
2 year Chairman’s streak: 2648

CHS
Greater DC
4 RCAs in 5 years: 836
4 year RCA streak: 1885

Southwest Virginia
Sparking another year: 384
Hopefully not Dragon their feet after an RCA win in 2014: 422

NC
Wake County
2014 NC RCA: 2642
2015 NC EI: 2059

Best of luck to everyone competing in week 2!