BEAR RIVER HIGH - By Ellen Cook, Headliner Media Specialist, November 10, 2022
Robots and their creators were on the loose at Bear River High School as the school’s Robotics Team held a well-attended VEX Robotics tournament November 5.
A total of 46 top robotics teams from Utah, Idaho, Montana and Nevada were on campus to compete in the day-long event. Coached by Jeff Jensen, the eight local teams did very well in the tough competition, with two of the teams taking home trophies.
Coach Jensen said, “After a brilliant performance in the qualifying rounds and four nail-biting elimination matches, E team won the tournament.”
That team, pictured below, consists of Porter Woolley (son of Jamie and Jason Woolley) and Wyatt Staheli (son of Clint and Angie Staheli).
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Another team, pictured below, made up of Ayla Clark (daughter of Keven and Jean Clark), Caleb Carlson (son of Shane and Sarah Carlson) and Jace Bingham (son of Dusty and Mandi Bingham) also represented Bear River well.
“Trailing in third place, with only minutes left on the Skills Field, J Team used their last attempt to pull off a nearly flawless driver skills run, moving into first place and claiming the Robot Skills Champion award,” Jensen said.
This run put J Team in first place in the state. J Team also had success earlier in the season with a tournament win in Colorado Springs.
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Pictured above: J Team from Bear River bested the competition to claim first place in the Robot Skills event.
Faculty Advisor Preston Richey said the success of the recent tournament and the robotics program in general is due to the efforts of so many who are involved.
“Thanks to the hard work of the kids, the massive support of parents, a huge number of community volunteers and the untiring efforts of the custodians who helped us set up, start up, and clean up a huge tournament. Thanks also to BRHS’s administration who have supported us at every step of the way,” Richey said.
A parent of one of those team members, Candice Sano, said there is a lot of hard work that goes into having such an amazing program at the school.
“The team as a whole has already put in collectively almost four thousand hours and the season has just started. They spend their week building, engineering and scrimmaging, all leading up to intense competition all over the state.”
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She added that the coaches are instrumental in the continuing success of the school’s robotics program.
“They dedicate a staggering amount of time to the program,” she said. “The support they give is completely invaluable.”
Several of the local teams were represented at the VEX Robotics World Championship Tournament held in Texas last year and they hope to make a repeat showing when this season comes to an end.
Photos by John Hurley
