Clean Sweep at UTC!
Written by Alicia Cox on March 20, 2004
Orange flags were waving, students were screaming, and adults were dying their hair orange. No team member could have believed what was taking place this year at the 2004 UTC New England Regional, right in front of their very eyes. What was so exciting, you ask? The Gaelhawks were winning. It has been six years since Team 230?s induction into FIRST Robotics: six years of difficult but enjoyable work. It has always been a team goal to take home the gold at the UTC New England Regional. This year, that dream became a reality.
On March 18-20th, the annual UTC Regional was held at the Meadows Music Theater in Hartford. Arriving bright and early Thursday to uncrate the robot, the team was eager to put forth their best efforts in all areas of the competition. While some members worked to scout other teams or fix the robot, others were partaking in a ?first? for FIRST. The Student Host Program, an idea of the UTC event planning committee, utilized help from UTC team members to make the competition run flawlessly. The students reset the field, guided the media and V.I.P. guests around, and allowed everything to run smoothly.
The first matches took place on Friday, with teams competing to set the standards and watching for the "top dogs". Matches went well for Team 230, and by the end of the day we still believed we had a great robot, fully capable of controlling the game. Saturday left us with two matches to prove ourselves in order to get picked for the alliance pairings. We won one of the matches and hung in both, showing our consistency when it came to "raising the bar". The matches finished, and after an anxious lunch alliance picking began.
After each alliance had picked one partner, the Gaelhawks were picked by the second seeded alliance: Team 571, Paragon; and Team 716, the WhosCTechs! With two great teams on our side, the Gaelhawks couldn?t have been more excited. The Quarter Finals consisted of the top eight alliances paired off, so that half would be eliminated in the best two out of three matches. Alliance 2 won both our Quarter Final matches, a clean sweep. We would advance into the Semi Finals! The pressure was building and the team was screaming uncontrollably. We won the first match of the Semi Finals sending us into shock. Team 230 won the second match as well, and suddenly it came down to two alliances - one would go home with a silver medal , and the other would leave with the gold. We faced Gael Force; the 2002 National Champions, RAGE; and the Tomahawks.
As the first Final match began, the team stood on the platforms screaming at the top of their lungs. The match ended with a close score of 150 to 135, and everyone held their breath as the buzzer sounded for the second Finals match. Human players sunk balls into the goal while 571 capped and Talon V hung once again. The results came in - final score 85 to 60! The Gaelhawks, Paragon, and the WhosCTechs were the Regional Winners of the 2004 UTC Regional!
Still, the day was not over! The crowd gathered in their seats for the final Awards Ceremony. Knowing we had already won one award, we were extremely excited. The awards began, and we settled down in our seats after our victory. We wouldn?t be sitting for long, though. The AutoDesk Visualization Award came onto the screen, and the winning animation was shown. The screen read Team 230, The Gaelhawks, "The High Road," and the screaming began again. Our Animation Team had worked hard the entire season to compile a 30-second animation, and they had waited for this moment for months. If winning the regional was not enough, we had accomplished another goal of our team?s and won this award! The team was then called up for the Regional Winner Award, and we received our medals and walked offstage to our seats.
We never reached them. We could hardly hear what was happening as we were cheering backstage, but the Engineering Inspiration Award was being announced. The award is the second highest honor, next to the Chairman?s Award, which the Gaelhawks were thrilled to take home in 2003. As we walked through the aisles, all we heard was "bocce shooter" and "Special Olympics" before we all began to scream once again. Our team name was announced, and we went back onstage for the third time, coming off with another trophy and more medals.
Team 230 left the venue with 6 trophies, a Regional Winner banner, and 2 medals around every member?s neck. Only the Gaelhawks clanged with victory as they walked. We arrived back at school late that night, tired but happy, enjoying our pizza party and reflecting on our triumphant year at the 2004 UTC New England Regional.
