Embedded Files
April 5th, 2024 by James Horne
In their 2nd District Event of the 2024 season, Melrose High’s Red Hawk Robotics Team competed just down the road at Revere High School, at the FIRST Robotics Competition Greater Boston Event. The team’s skill and dedication allowed them to lock their qualification for the New England District Championship, held at the Big E, in Springfield, MA. The team placed 4th in qualification rounds, and captained their alliance of three robots, with team #1922, Oz-Ram from Contoocook, NH, and team #1073, The Force Team, from Hollis, NH. This performance bodes well for the team on their journey to Houston for World Champs (support us).
Melrose started the event with load in and practice matches on Friday, and began qualification matches on Saturday, a day lasting from 8 AM until 7:30 PM. The team ended up in 4th place out of 38 teams after their qualification matches, and became the 3rd seed captain for playoffs.
In their first match of the double elimination bracket, the two opposing alliances set the highest combined clean match score in the world for this season: 234 points, beating previously set records from World Championship winning teams. Unfortunately they lost the match with a score of 111 to 123. Red Hawk Robotics continued on through the lower bracket, winning their second and third matches of playoffs, until a rough hit led to electrical malfunctions and the robot was unable to move correctly. Driver Ronan Melville was able to continue playing defense against the opposing alliance, but the alliance lost on an 8 point difference against the second seed alliance.
As a result of their incredible performance in both qualification matches and in playoffs, the team guaranteed their place at the New England District Championship for the third year in a row, to be held from April 3rd – 6th in Springfield, MA. Melrose has continued to iterate their design, make their robot more robust, and practice with it. Students and Mentors expect to make a strong showing in Springfield this weekend, fighting to earn one of 31 slots to return to the World Championships in Houston, TX over April Break. In their mission to ensure STEM access to all in Melrose, the team is aiming to cover a majority of the costs for students to attend this incredible event. If you would like to support the team, please go to https://gofund.me/6df25850.
Page updated
Report abuse