The Haslett Robotics Club (HRC) is pleased to announce that it had a strong showing at the VEX Robotics State Championship at MSU on February 22nd, 2015. The competition saw 59 of the best teams from around the state competing.  All four the club’s VEX teams competed and performed admirably.

During the competition, all four HRC teams made it to the elimination rounds. The final round had two of our teams, the Dragons and the Raptors, battling it out on opposing alliances. In the end, the Raptors came out on top as Tournament Champions.

The Haslett Raptors also won the tournament’s highest honor, the coveted Excellence Award, recognizing them as the top overall team in the state. Additionally, the Raptors won the Robotics Skills Award with a score high enough to break the previous State record. With these awards and as reigning World Champions, the Raptors team qualifies in four different ways to advance to Worlds. (We think they might really, really want to go)

The Haslett Dragons, as tournament finalists, qualified along with the Raptors to compete at the World Championship tournament in Louisville, KY in April! This is the second consecutive year, Haslett has two teams advancing to Worlds. Way to go Dragons! We wish them continuing success at Worlds.

The Haslett Vortex, despite technical problems, persevered to the quarter finals of the tournament. Their impressive robot design incorporated very advanced engineering, earning them the Judges Award, which recognizes teamwork, sportsmanship, and the high quality of their robot. Having competed at Worlds last year, they are understandably disappointed to not qualify again, but the Vortex are to be congratulated for their successful season taking them to the quarter finals at States! They have huge potential and we can’t wait to see what they show us next year.

Speaking of potential, our brand new middle school team, the Haslett Minotaurs has had a fantastic inaugural season. They went all the way to the semi-finals in the middle school division at the State tournament. They also scored well in both the Robotics Skills challenges. Very impressive job Minotaurs!

The club is very proud of the four VEX teams and its coaches, Claus Buchholz, Kim Schramm, and Mike Scott.

Finally, a big shout out of thanks to the younger Halsett Robotics Club team members and coaches, David Rothstein, Todd Wilson and Christina DeJong.  These teams, which consist of 9 to 14 year old students from Haslett and the surrounding area, compete in the FIRST Lego League.  Their assistance in running the VEX competition exemplifies our club’s collaborative spirit and also helped expose the kids to a complex and exciting new robotics platform.  The VEX state tournament organizers are much appreciative of our FLL teams’ help.

For additional reference, the club was mentioned in a segment on WLNS: