MVHS Robotics last appearance at the World stage was in 2011 , when they qualified two teams. Since then Mount Vernon High School has joined the more competitive and larger VEX Robotics competition and this year qualified for the first time to VEX Worlds, two teams – 85A and 85C. The teams will compete this Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Dallas, Texas.
Team 85 A includes members Mitchell Gage and Jake Hartman. Team 85 C includes members Mark Liberko , Kian Hageman, Steven Wolfe and Vance Arnold. Those seniors all had made prior obligations to attend prom this weekend, so they will be represented by underclassmen Dash Yamanishi and Tommy Ferguson who will drive their robot in the competition at the Worlds competition Saturday.
This years challenge is explained at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8XcvADUXTE
“Students have been busy prepping for Worlds. 85C had some things not working right on their Robot at State, so they identified the issues, completely tore down their Robot, then reassembled with modifications to all their subassemblies,” said coach David Keller. “85A had a well-built Robot that did everything it was designed to do well, but they wanted more strategic scoring potential, so they built a whole new robot in only a month.”
Keller said both teams completed their objectives and had an awesome practice Sunday. For the first time in Mount Vernon High School Robotics history, all teams finished practice before a tournament early with no issues and not a single loose nut or screw to pick up from the field.
“I am so looking forward to traveling down to Dallas with them and watching them perform on an international level with teams from all over the world,” Keller said. “Both robots are awesome and have a huge amount of scoring potential, and I’m very proud of what they have accomplished.”
Keller wants to thank Jeff Wenzel and Bowker Mechanical for their support and donations over the years.
The matches can be watched at remotely at vexworlds.tv.