Crown Point Tournament champions, from left, Noah Beckner, Jack Collins, Wesley Hays, Nathan Smith, Taylor Fiedeke, Evan Rassi and Evan Brower.

CROWN POINT — Wawasee’s robotics team won the tournament championship, robotics skills champion, and qualified two teams for state Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Crown Point Tournament. “It is a great start to our season,” said head coach Jed Wandland.

Saturday was a kickoff for the 2019-20 Tower Takeover season for Iron Pride Robotics. Twenty-four teams from around the state competed at Crown Point. All six Wawasee teams were ranked in the top half of the field for alliance selection. All six teams made it into the quarterfinals.

574A and 574G made it through the round of 16 into the quarterfinals and 574H made it into the semifinals. 574C, 574D, and 574F all made it into the finals match with C and D coming out on top with a score of 33 to 5.

Team results:

574C Centurion — Tournament champion and alliance captains, first place qualifier, third robot skills, state qualifier, 246th in world in skills challenge — Evan Rassi, Taylor Fiedeke, Evan Brower

574D Immortal — Tournament champions, fourth place qualifier, first robot skills, state qualifier, 54th in world in skills challenge — Noah Beckner, Jack Collins, Wesley Hays, Nathan Smith

574A Amazon — Fifth place qualifier, 12th robot skills, 736th in world in skills challenge — Andrea Mickley, Allison Srookey, Sydni Ewing

574H Samurai (middle school) — seventh place qualifier, eighth robot skills, 256th in world in skills challenge — Charlie Krull, Michael Wippel

574G Iron Knight — Ninth place qualifier — Harry Doss

574F Barbarian — 12th place qualifier, 13th robot skills, 735th in world in skills challenge — Vanessa Wright, Jackson Coverstone, Bailey Smith

The next tournament is Friday and Saturday, Nov. 8-9, at Battle at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 4790 W. 16th St. This is a signature event with competitors from Michigan, California, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Maryland, and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Opening ceremonies at 10 a.m. Friday, qualifying starts at 10:30 a.m., finals start at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Highlights:

All but one team has new members added or new combinations of veteran players. They filled roles, worked together and represented the Iron Pride well. No Iron Pride team had more than three losses out of their eight qualifying matches.

574G played a strong defensive game. Team member, Harry, is known to be a strong clutch player.

574D won their first skills trophy.

Girl-powered team 574A qualified in fifth place with only two losses for the day.

574F fought their way to the finals to secure a Wawasee win no matter which alliance won.

574H qualified in seventh place and was the top ranked middle school team at the tournament.

574C qualified in first place for the day after losing three seniors, getting 3.5 hours of sleep, and eating only pop tarts and ham sandwiches.