Plymouth's Top Tier Robotics wins excellence…again at Chesterton

The Top Tier Robotics’s team from Lincoln Junior High in Plymouth, “Mechannibalism,” won the Excellence Award for the third time this season at the Chesterton VEX Robotics Tournament this past Saturday. The team is the only middle school team to win the award multiple times this season. This award qualifies them again for the Indiana VEX Robotics State Championships on March 22nd at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

The Excellence Award in the VEX Robotics Competition is considered the highest honor awarded to the team that demonstrates the most comprehensive excellence in building a high-quality robotics program, encompassing all aspects of design, performance, teamwork, and engineering practices across the competition. Elizabeth Shuh, the team’s primary note-booker, said, “I’m really proud that we’ve gotten Excellence three times now. It really shows that we’re consistent in our performance. I can’t wait till we compete at State in a few weeks!” 

The fierce competition was evident at the event and throughout the state, as middle school teams from Wa-Nee and Heritage Christian have climbed the ranks on the State Leaderboard, and the team is aware of that. “We’re going to have to work harder and keep improving if we’re going to win it all at State,” said primary builder and driver Michael Wandland. The team finished 2nd for the day in robot skills, and 5th in the qualifying rounds, but battled their way to the finals where they suffered a tough loss to the team from Wa-Nee. The team’s primary programmer, Miles Stoneburner, embraces the challenge of the activity, “robotics helps us to be comfortable with the uncomfortable,” he said.

The team will compete in a robotics skills challenge in Plymouth this Saturday to improve their ranking in preparation for the State Championships. By winning the tournament or Excellence Award at state, they hope to qualify for the VEX Robotics World Championships, which will be held in May in Dallas, TX.

Photos: The team poses proudly with their award.  Pictured L to R: Elizabeth Schuh - primary notebooker; Michael Wandland - primary builder and driver; Miles Stoneburner - primary programmer; Chloe Joshick - co-notebooker and statistician

Michael Wandland - primary builder and driver, and Miles Stoneburner - primary programmer discuss strategy before a match with their alliance partners from Covenant Christian