Congratulations to Sherburne-Earlville VEX Robotics teams 13460C “The Burninators” and 13460X for earning berths to the Northern New York State Championships during the 16-team Elmira competition on January 14.

“The Burninators” – SEHS students Brayden Smith, Amon Van Alst, Ryan Solloway, and Dana Hutchings, along with robot Trogdor V2 – bounced back after a 50-48 loss to the 3699A “Chenango Valley Red”/53999G ”Robo Hornets” alliance in their first qualifying match. “The Burninators” were forced to disable their robot or face disqualification after their string launcher misfired during the opener, but they followed with a 5-0 run to jump into third place heading into the quarterfinals.

“The Burninators” then teamed with Chittenango’s 7157A “Revenge Of The Titans” and cruised to wins in the quarterfinals, 84-13, and semifinals, 96-29, before falling to the 7157X/8214C “Fire Breathing Bears” alliance.

The tournament champion “Fire Breathing Bears” also eliminated our 13460X team, which reached the playoffs in its first competition. Despite using a push bot (R2D2) with limited capabilities, SEMS students Jackson Barker and Aaron Romanowski won three of their six qualification matches to place seventh for a quarterfinal spot. A botched repair on their roller contributed to a 54-all tie, but after a quick fix, they reached the semifinals with a 72-45 victory.

Both S-E teams also fared well in the skills portion of the competition, a solo event in which each group attempts to score as many points as possible in a limited amount of time. “The Burninators” amassed 110 points – 73 in the driver portion and 37 in programming – but were bumped from first place when the 8214C “Fire Breathing Marshmallows” scored a whopping 111 driver points for a total of 141 points. Our 13460X team finished fourth out of 11 skills entries with 62 points (59 driver, 3 programming).

All three S-E teams will compete this Saturday (January 21) at West Genesee High School as “The Burninators” and 13460X will be joined by our 13460C “The Slightly Below Room Temperaturinators.” Good luck!