Welcome back to the FIM Event Previews, there are 5 Michigan Districts this week and I’ll be doing a preview for all the FIM events, every week this season. Next up is our last district of week 1, and what has been a pretty popular early event, despite switching to a new location.
Jackson District
Last Year’s Winners (302-4381-4453)
Favorites:
Out of the event previews this week, this one might be the most controversial to some, but I think the number 1 team at Jackson will be 9312-NERD Spark. Despite being a rookie team last year, they were definitely not one to be doubted, not only winning a district as the rank 1 alliance captain, but making Einstein in the Johnson Division, alongside fellow Michigan team 2075. NERD Spark will look to expand on their already impressive list of accomplishments at an event I see them winning. Let’s just hope they don’t fall into the sophomore slump. The other favorite for Jackson was on the second seed at last years event, 1023-Bedford Express. Bedford has always been a dual threat team when it comes to success, just one impact win away from double digits in both chairman’s and event wins. I think they are in a bit of a strange situation at Jackson, being the oldest team, despite being a 1000 series team. With that said I expect them to lead by example as a favorite to win not just the event, but the impact award for the double medal.
Challengers:
Challenging them will be a team that made a statement last season, 6081-Digital Dislocators. To be honest I had never heard of them till their week 1 2023 Calvin University Performance, where they won the event alongside 3357 and 2771. They didn’t just have early season success either, by winning the Saline district as the alliance 3 captain, as well as having a top 10 finish in their division at worlds. The real question for most teams in FRC isn’t whether you can succeed, it’s can you have continuous success across multiple years, and while 6081 has definitely made a name for themselves, can they continue this as they strive to build their legacy. The last team i want to talk about is 2611-Jacktown Vectors. A Jackson event regular, with Finals appearances in both 2020 and 2022, 2611 hasn’t been able to bring home a win in their long history, and to make it worse had some real bad luck last season. Both of their alliances at the district level had to bring out back-up robots. Especially when at Lakeview it was their #1 pick 1684 being replaced, who would go on to win an event just a week later. This will be a challenge for them, to break this bad luck, at an event with a very strong top 3, but as long as they stay the course, a Finals appearance is definitely within their grasp.
Contenders:
7197 - Mountie Megabots
3414 - Hackbots
Dark Horse:
4216 - Blue Ops Robotics
8728 - Argonauts
Outside Looking In:
5676 - The H.E.R.O.E.S
7501 - Golden Gears
6570 - Whiteford Bobcats
4377 - Boyne City Blaze
Cinderella Stories:
5066 - Singularity
7226 - Error 404
That is now all the weekly previews for week 1 in Michigan. Good luck to all Michigan Teams this week, I definitely recommend watching/attending Milford or Kettering on Friday/Saturday, followed by the Sunday playoff for Battle Creek. More Previews to come next week.
Next is the Week 1 Top 25, releasing sometime early next week.