On the road home from RCEF
Texas High School competes in UIL State for the second year in a row
Photo by submitted photo
Juniors Aidan Spivey and Brett Sparks, Sophomore Evan Wyche and robotics sponsor Mark Ahrens pose with their semi-finals plaque. Texas High had two teams compete at UIL State in Houston, TX.
March 8, 2023
The sounds of robots clash in the filled arena. Crowds from all over Texas cheer in the final moments of the tournament. What were once great teams now desperately fight for the right to win a trophy. These teams also include Texas High’s own: 3350C and 3350B.
Texas High School has always been an avid fan of the VEX V5 Robotics tournaments. Now the spotlight has been given to them again as they have competed for the second time in UIL State.
“I feel great. We did a lot better than I thought we would,” sophomore Evan Wyche said. “We need to improve our programming and driving if we plan to succeed in qualifying for worlds.”
Teams 3350C and 3350B made their way to Houston on Feb. 10, where 3350C placed in the semi-finals and 3350B made it to round-of-16.
For the past two months, the two teams have been practicing for the event. A lot of ideas and planning have been taken into consideration.
They competed against the 5A district, which includes teams from Lovejoy, Greenville, El Paso, Galveston, Granbury and more. The trophy count Texas High has for robotics has almost tripled since summer of 2021. Needless to say, the competition was no easy task.
“We have come a long way from what we were last year,” robotics teacher Mark Ahrens said. “We have increased the engineering and design aspects of the robotics club and have greatly improved.”
But Houston was one of the toughest tournaments that T-Bots has been to so far. After the battle, many improvements were needed.
Texas High is currently in the top 30 in the state and top .09% of the world with a skills score of 177 and 76. Plans to turn these scores into a 300 have already been put into motion. Plans for more improvements have already been queued into the many things 3350 needs to get done.
“I think we have done a great job; however, we need to keep up the work if we want to keep our skills placement,” Wyche said.
So as they return from Houston, they hold their heads high with pride as we continue to prepare for VEX Worlds on April 25.
“We brought home several trophies from UIL State,” Ahrens said. “Our shelves are now full and we are planning on getting even more if we continue to win at this rate.”
