Team 574J-Ethan Hays, and 574N-Keegan Cook, Taylor Fiedeke, and Tess Fancil are now qualified to compete March 9 at the Indiana VEX State Robotics Championship in Lucas Oil Stadium with five other Iron Pride teams.

CROWN POINT — Saturday, Feb. 23, in the Fieldhouse at Crown Point, Wawasee Iron Pride Robotics 574C and 574D won tournament champion. 574C won skills champion with a new world record and finished the regular season undefeated in skills competition having set and broken the world skills record seven times.

Team 574N ran their best driver’s skills challenge ever with a 19 and programmed an eight point autonomous at the last second to secure an invite to state. 574J had a previous skills score of 27 also securing an invite. Teams spent most of the day next to the practice field working on last minute design and programming tweaks. “I can’t begin to express how impressed I am with our teams. They worked as hard as they could the entire day and never gave up,” said coach Jed Wandland.

Iron Pride teammates gathered together to help, cheer, and celebrate the skills score that was enough to qualify for state.

“Robotics competition is different from sports,” said Wandland, “teams from competing schools loan parts, help with programing, and use social networking to stay connected. Competing teams will help each other in any way they can to get your robot to the field and then turn around and work as hard as they can to beat them in competition. The idea of competition is alive and well in Wawasee Iron Pride Robotics.”

Wawasee Iron Pride Robotics will have seven teams competing at the Indiana VEX State Robotics Championship Saturday, March 9. The address for Lucas Oil Stadium, where state is taking place, is 500 S. Capitol Ave., Indianapolis. There is no cost for admission. The doors open to the public at 9 a.m., opening ceremonies at 9:30 a.m., qualifier rounds start at 10:15 a.m., finals approximately 4:30 p.m.

State qualifications — Iron Pride Robotics Club qualified four high school teams (574C, D, E, M) and one middle school (574H) team for state. 574J and 574N received a skills invite to state.

Tourney highlights:

574A team best finish in qualifications, sixth place

574J team best finish in qualifications, 10th place

Five Iron Pride teams were in the top ten at the end of qualifications

574C set a skills world record

574J and 574N both qualified for state via skills. Much of the team celebrated with 574N as they squeaked in their state qualifying skills score within the final minutes before the skills challenge closed for the day.

574H, the middle school team, made their first appearance in semifinals paired with 574E who performed well in spite of missing their regular powerhouse driver, Jackson “alliance breaker” Coverstone

574C is still undefeated in the skills challenge after 11 tournaments. They once again beat their own world record by three making the target that much harder to reach.

Seven Iron Pride teams to qualify to go to state

11 Iron Pride teams made it into eliminations