By Reagan Paz
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Pitted against over 100 teams from around the Pacific, such as Taiwan and China, MHS’ VEX Robotics teams 1973 C and 1973 D competed in the Pan Pacific tournament held at the Hawaii Convention Center from Feb. 22 to 24. In the end, team 1973 D won the tournament with their allies from Waiakea High School and Hilo High School, securing them a spot at worlds.
“Originally my plan was to only get to the final because you get a bid to the world championship but seeing that my other (MHS) team lost to the finalists, I knew I had to do whatever I could to win the last match,” said Senior Curtis Frifeldt, team 1973 D’s driver. The two alliances that make it to the finals automatically qualify for worlds regardless of whether they win or lose.
This is the second year in a row that MHS has had a team in a winning alliance at the Pan Pacific. “With todayís performance, it equaled last year’s performance where we had four teams qualify for the worlds championship,” said VEX Robotics adviser Timothy Pregana. Teams 1973 A, B and F have also qualified for worlds.
The top two teams at the end of the qualifying rounds select two of their allies to compete with them in elimination rounds. Although neither team from MHS was in the top two, they were still selected to compete in the elimination rounds. “Even though we weren’t one of the top ranked teams, before we went to elimination rounds we were able to talk with our friends, talk with other alliances and basically sell ourselves to the other teams so they could pick us,” explained Junior Clayton Dailey, team 1973 C’s driver.
Despite not doing well on the first day of the competition, the teams managed to push through and make it to the semifinals and, for 1973 D, win the tournament. “The programming worked when it had to, they made correct decisions in clenched spots and it paid off for our team. They played well, they had good strategy,” said Pregana. Frifeldt added, “We had a really bad day (during qualifying rounds) but we refreshed our minds and we came back with a clean slate and just pushed on.”
After competing in the Pan Pacific tournament, the teams have taken new ideas that they will bring to worlds. “I was able to see what the other countries were doing out in the world. This is our first international competition so we only knew what Hawaii was doing up until now. Now we get to see teams from China, what theyíre doing,” said Dailey.
With 1973 D as MHS’ fourth team to qualify for the world championship, they have high hopes for the outcome. Worlds will be held from April 18 to 20 in Anaheim, Calif.
