Arlington School & Family Magazine January 2017 | Page 17

Lamar High School Robotics UIL Competition by Grayson McGeath 10/31/16 Despite a 12th-place finish in the first AISD-sponsored BEST Robotics tournament, Lamar robotics team members set their sights on the First Tech Challenge. “I like this team better than last year,” sophomore robotics member Morgan Hill said. “We were more organized with the engineering notebook this year.”      Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology Robotics, a relatively new UIL academic contest category, features the talents of 11 student engineers. Coaches are Erik Walla, Dennis Pugh and Chris Church. “After finishing in third place last year with four returning members and five incoming freshmen, we had high hopes,” Pugh said. “Unfortunately we did not place in the top two positions to move on to the state tournament in December.” Twenty-two Tarrant County-area teams competed at the qualifying tournament held at Lamar Oct. 22.  “Our robot was working well when we practiced with it during lunch,” junior Sebastian Mendez said. “But when we tried to compete in each round, the robot struggled. It was disappointing.” Many problems cost the team some high scores, including connectivity and driving issues. The pressure began to increase about halfway through the competition.      “I feel we definitely could have done better,” Mendez said. “I feel like we’ve stepped up this year.” Arlington School & Family 15