On Sunday, January 14th, our team participated at the Sanford Qualifier. The day was filled with rushing but taking time to communicate to each other. We were given the first slot of interviews at 8:30, which went incredibly well. After, we strategically spent our morning talking with teams and gathering information on their robot and performance. Once matches started our focus shifted some to competing but kept the members who were not on our drive team busy watching matches to collect more data. In between matches we have found it helpful for our drive team to report back to our scouting team about the robots we competed with. This way, when we run well with a team we can take note of it in case we become an alliance captain.

There was a new team that will begin next season that roamed around the qualifier that we were able to speak with multiple times throughout the day. They were respectful and inquisitive listeners who soaked up the knowledge we were able to give them. As an experienced team we were able to give them a lot of tips and tricks on how to get started and learn.

We ran well during the qualification matches and ranked 2nd place. We were graciously offered by the first ranking, team 6078, Cut The Red Wire, to pair up before alliance selection began. We politely declined their offer, as we wished to better our chance of making it to the states competition by being an alliance captain.

We selected team 21836, Marvels of IAR to be our alliance partner. We spent a lot of time strategizing between matches and even helped them code their autonomous program. They had an autonomous program for the backstage starting position when we found them, and a not-working program for the other position. Every chance we had we ran back together to the practice field and were able to create an autonomous that placed the purple pixel on the corresponding mark by the end of our efforts.

Together, we made it through the semifinals with a perfect record including our qualifying matches. Our luck drastically turned when we reached the finals matches. We were left with a learning experience, and kindly shook the hands of our opponents, they did fantastic.

Once the awards came around, we were jumping with joy. We won first place Control award, 3rd place Think, Finalist Alliance Captain, and second place Inspire. Our placement in Inspire won us the ticket to the North Carolina State Competition. We are so grateful to have been even nominated for so many awards, we cannot wait to further improve our team.