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| GSSI Teams mingle while waiting to compete on game table. |
Four GSSI Robotics Teams took home awards at the FIRST LEGO League Robotics Tournament at Carriel Jr. High in O'Fallon on Jan. 11, 2014.The tournament was an exhibition that made up for the McKendree University Regional that was cancelled due to weather in December. Because of the large number of teams participating, squads were split into two groups that competed in identical tournaments, "Class A" and "Class B."
Teams from the McKendree University Regional were selected to advance to the state tournament by lottery after the cancellation. While the tournament at Carriel Jr. High did not determine which teams qualified for state competition, awards were given for remarkable performance.
GSSI teams receiving awards were:
Class A Tournament:
TBot 907 from Roxana earned the "Champions Award" for the team that displayed the best overall performance.
Gir! - Girls Investigating Robots from Staunton earned the "Core Values Award" for best exemplifying the cornerstones of the FLL program, which include active participation, teamwork and gracious professionalism.
The Tornado Twist*rs from Albers earned the "Rookie Award" for the best first-year team.
Class B Tournament:
Lightning Storm of Belleville earned the "Judges Award" for the team that the FLL Judges found to be remarkable.
Additional teams to compete in the Jan. 11 tournament were The Purple Robot Penguins from O'Fallon, The Fireworks from Glen Carbon, The Catastrophic Cadettes from Staunton and Robo Fury from Alton. In addition, two GSSI teams, Shiloh Robo Bears and The Tornado Tech Girls from Pinckneyville were unable to attend the rescheduled tournament. GSSI also had four Girl Scout Robotics teams participate in a Regional Qualifying tournament on Dec. 7: The Lego Divas from Effingham, The Twisters from Troy/Marine, The Robotic Gems from Washington Park and The Unknowns from Belleville.
Four GSSI Robotics Teams will compete at the FLL State Tournament on Jan. 18 at University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. These teams are TBot 907, Lightning Storm, The Lego Divas and G4S4 from Ozark.
