Iron Chargers will regroup in spite of losses

The Iron Chargers Robotics team, not only lost 7 matches at the world competition, placing them 85 out of 100, but they are also losing three seniors this year; Dustin Nelson, McKayla Vad and Kelly Dougherty. 

However, the team is re-grouping and looking ahead to the future.

April 20-23, the Iron Chargers traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, for the 2016 Vex Worlds Robotics Competition. Club Advisor, Isaac Kvasager, says even though the team’s record in Kentucky was “frustratingly bad”, the students still performed very well and had, by far, the best built robot the team has ever had! “Of the 7 matches we lost, 6 of those matches were lost by a single ball differential. It was a bit frustrating to the students to keep coming so close, but still losing, but they performed very well and had the most intricately programmed robot,” Kvasager stated. “Had we not had the bad luck of losing by a single ball in 6 of our matches, we would have placed 12th out of 100,” he added.

At the World’s event, the Iron Chargers place 85th out of 100 in their division. Their record was 2-7-1. Interestingly enough, the match they tied was when they went head to head against the Mankato East team that they won the state championship with.

“Even though the record doesn’t show it, as a team, this is easily the best we have ever performed at the World Championship,” Kvasager proudly said.

For now, the team is taking a short break, but hope to get their new teams figured out this week as they are losing three seniors. Of his experience with the team, Grygla Senior, Dustin Nelson, says, “I am basing my career path off of my robotics experience. I plan on going to school at NCTC in Thief River Falls and go through the ETAS or Electronic Technology Automated Systems course. I also plan on joining the robotics team at NCTC!”

Another senior team member, Kelly Dougherty, adds, “Throughout all 3 years of robotics, I learned how to work with others, think out solutions to a problem and new ways to tackle objectives. It was just an amazing experience to learn how to apply and use your brain to the fullest,” she said.

An official from The Guinness Book of World Records was at the event in Kentucky and announced that the VEX Robotics World Championship has officially become the largest robotics event in the world, making the Grygla Iron Chargers a part of a world record!