Austin teams compete in robotics competition

Published 10:05 am Tuesday, January 13, 2015

The Ellis Middle School Robotics Team competed Saturday at the Mason City Tournament.  Pictured are, front row from left: coach Tom Fritz, Robin Weaver, Trevor Baldus, Maisy Bothun; middle row: Tristan Lund (AHS volunteer), Jacob Venenga, Simon Hirst, Emily Bollum; back row: coach Derik Gustafson. Photo provided

The Ellis Middle School Robotics Team competed Saturday at the Mason City Tournament.
Pictured are, front row from left: coach Tom Fritz, Robin Weaver, Trevor Baldus, Maisy Bothun; middle row: Tristan Lund (AHS volunteer), Jacob Venenga, Simon Hirst, Emily Bollum; back row: coach Derik Gustafson. Photo provided

Several Austin teams competed in the FIRST Lego League Robotics and VEX Robotics competitions Saturday. Here’s how they fared:

Rochester FLL Regional Competition:

• Holton Engineers scored fifth place in Robot Performance in their division.

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• Banfield Bobcatbots scored seventh place in Robot Performance in their division.

• Southgate Gatorbots scored eighth place in Robot Performance in their division.

• Mysterious George won the Robot Design Award in their division.

• Mysterious George won the Head-to-Head Robot Competition.

• Southgate Gatorbots won the Judges Award for Team Spirit.

 Mason City VEX Competition:

• Ellis Middle School took third place in the preliminary rounds in the competition; if the team was an IA team, they would have advanced to the IA State Tournament.

Osseo VEX Competition:

• Holton Team B finished fifth in the preliminary rounds in the competition.

• Holton Team A finished 13th in the preliminary rounds in the competition.

•Both Holton Teams A and B won a State Championship invitations for their scores in skills challenges.

On Jan. 23 and 24, Holton Teams A and B will join the Mysterious George VEX team and the Southland VEX team at the Minnesota VEX State Championship in St. Cloud.

The AHS FIRST Robotics Competition team will be traveling to Duluth from Feb. 24 through 27 and Minneapolis from April 1 through 4 for their competitions.

Congratulations to each student, coach and mentor involved on the robotics teams.