JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The Jackson Hole RoboBroncs made a strong showing at the Hueneme Port Regionals where they went 11-6-0 in competition, made the semifinal round, and returned home with an Engineering Inspiration Award, earning the team a spot in the FIRST Championships in Houston next month.
Pico the robot took a little time to get going but once he did, there was no stopping Jackson Hole Team #3374. Pico went from good to better to great, moving up from 10th after Saturday, to a tie for 5th in just 3 matches.
The improvement was all due to the team’s diligence in grinding away on programming and mechanisms, said coach Gary Duquette.
“Walter changed out a gear that was looking a little shaky at the end of the day,” Duquette said.
Jackson’s Team 3374 was selected by Epic Robotics to be their first pick on the 3rd Alliance. The alliance won their quarterfinal matches against another really strong group, and then made a great run against an alliance comprised of teams from Hawaii, California, and Colorado.
It came down to a winner-take-all match but Jackson’s alliance lost to a great competitor. In fact, the alliance that ended up winning the competition was the most dominant alliance assembled this year anywhere in the world. They have the world record so far for the top score in a final round match and went undefeated in the finals.
“This was our best robot showing for the JH RoboBroncs ever,” Duquette said. “All the students have gone above and beyond on a weekly and daily basis for our team. The students who attended Port Hueneme did an amazing job, but let’s not forget all of the students who couldn’t attend this weekend. It is truly the over 300 students who are participating in FIRST Robotics in TCSD, and the students and teams we mentor over on, and around, the Wind River Reservation and the state of Wyoming that makes our awards possible.”
And how about Stella and Brynne who presented the Chairman’s Award to the judges, and crushed it! It was written and edited by most of the older kids on the team due to the fact that Team 3374 no longer has a business team.
“The judge stopped me as they were kicking us out for the night and commented on how well they did in the interview,” Duquette shared.
Duquette was proud of his kids. They competed hard and came a long way this season.
As we know, FIRST robotics is not really about the robot. It is about so much more. It is spreading the word of STEM and inspiring your community with your team’s outreach and robotics,” Duquette said. “Mentors Wes Womack, Eric Balsa, and Harry Shipp have had an outstanding season so far, but that list of FRC mentors doesn’t include all of the 3rd grade teachers in Teton County who embed FIRST Lego League Explore as part of their science curriculum. It doesn’t include the over 15 coaches and mentors at all of the JH elementary schools who run over 24 4th/5th grade FLL teams at all of the elementary schools in the valley. Hope Sieck, who helped with coordination of the FLL in the elementary schools, as well as running the 4 FLL teams in 6th grade at JHMS.
“Harry Shipp and Sean Jameson from JHCS for stepping up and running 8 teams for the 7th-10th grade teams, crushing FIRST Tech Challenge this year, bringing home our first winners trophy from WY State Champs, and also bringing home the Connect Award thanks to the efforts of 10th Graders. Harry won the Compass award for his outstanding mentorship. Amazing group of people! This award is yours, as well as ours…”
