WAHS Robotics Team Takes First in Cougar Challenge

The West Ashley High School Robotics Team recently traveled to Beaufort to compete in the first VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) event of the season, the Cougar Challenge. This was a regional qualifying event where the top teams would earn a spot in the SC Palmetto State VRC Championship in March 2016.
Last season, the WAHS Robotics Team competed at the State Championship and had their hopes of attending the World Championships slip through their fingers. After a heartbreaking second place finish, the team was sent home as the #2 ranked team in South Carolina. Since their early departure last year, the team has been firing on all cylinders and went into Beaufort last weekend with a single goal – first place or bust!
Teams from all over the state attended this event and competed in three categories – programming skills, driver control skills, and the main VRC game, Nothing But Net. Nothing But Net is a basketball style game where robots must pick up 4” foam basketballs and launch them into a 4-foot tall, triangular shaped net, from distances of up to 18 feet away.
WAHS prepared two robots to compete at the event last weekend. Senior Josh Pugliese and sophomore Matthew Baumgardner built the first robot for team 9623A, nicknamed, “Jumper,” which finished with a record of 3-3-0 and earned an 11th place overall finish. The real success story was earned by the second robot for team 9623B, affectionately nicknamed, “Mr. Bucket,” which was built by senior Anthony Brown, junior Edward Black, and junior Skylar Reese. Their robot dominated all aspects of this event. Thanks to clever programming by junior Noah Combs, “Mr. Bucket” earned a 4th place finish in the programming skills challenge. Junior Nicholas Eversley was the primary driver of the robot and used his expertise to earn a 2nd place finish in the driver skills challenge.
Eversley continued to dominate the regional qualifying event throughout the main game, going undefeated with a record of 10-0. The robot even won one of the matches with a record high score of 233 to 46. These wins helped earn the team a 1st place finish in the qualifying matches. Consequently, West Ashley High finally earned the one award which eluded them last year – 1st place overall and recognition as the tournament champions. The team’s victory came with an impressive trophy, validation from a season cut short, and a spot in this year’s VEX Robotics State Championship on March 12, 2016 at River Bluff High School.
Presently, the team is gearing up for another event, the Bot Squad Icicle Open, at Sumter High School on Dec. 12. The team has also finally selected a team name, W.A.R.P. DRIVE, an acronym which stands for “West Ashley Robotics Program.” WAHS will also host their second annual VEX Robotics Competition event on Feb. 20 in the gymnasium of West Ashley High. Admission to the event is free so please come out and cheer on W.A.R.P. DRIVE as they work toward earning a spot in the World Championships this April in Louisville, Ky.