VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Valley City High School robotics team entered three teams in the State VEX Tournament and one of the three teams, made up of Tanner Thomsen and Blake Triebold, went on to win the state title and the Excellence Award.

The high school robotics club, which included Tanner Thomsen, Blake Triebold, Ezra Hanse, and Derek Bear, started meeting after school this past fall. Soon John Lahlum, Buddy Scherr, Kael Jenison, Owen Plagens, and Keegan Couture joined as well. Robotics is advised by Annette Beattie, the technology and engineering education teacher at VCPS. While robots are made up of aluminum, steel, screws, nuts, and motors, Thomsen says, “Robotics is a competition of the mind.”

VEX Robotics matches are played on a 12’ x 12’ field, and every year there is a new game on the field. The robots start with 15 seconds of autonomous time; then, for the next minute and 45 seconds, the students run their robot with a joystick to score as many points as possible.

Thomsen and Triebold talked about the competition and the excitement of heading to the World Competition in April of 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky with reporter Steve Urness.

In January, Thomsen, Triebold, Hanse, Bear, and Lahlum entered their first VEX tournament in Grand Forks. They had a second-place finish at that tournament and, afterward, decided to build a second robot to have a better shot at winning the state title. Even though this meant forming two separate teams, they worked together to help each team succeed.

This February there were 24 teams in the State Tournament. These tournaments are run with qualifying rounds first; then, based on the number of wins, teams are ranked. The Thomsen-Triebold team finished with the number one ranking, having lost only one qualifying match and having scored the most autonomous points. They went through the elimination round in which matches are played best two out of three; they did not lose a single match. “All of our hard work paid off,” said Thomsen, after winning the championship round. The other two Valley City teams also had a good showing. The Hanse, Bear, Scherr, and Jenison team finished with a ninth-place ranking, and the Plagens-Couture team finished in the fifteenth spot.

The Thomsen-Triebold team was also awarded the most coveted award: The Excellence Award. This award is determined by the judges before the elimination round. It is based upon robot design, professionalism of the team, the skills competition, and how well the team has kept their Engineering Design Journal. The recipients of the Excellence Award are given an invitation to the VEX Robotics World Championship Tournament held in Louisville, KY in April.

The VCHS robotics team will be fundraising to attend the Worlds competition. If any organizations would like the robotics team to present at their meetings and would consider donating to help send them to Louisville, please contact Annette Beattie at Annette.beattie@k12.nd.us to set up a time.

Above photo: L to R Tanner Thomsen and Blake Triebold.