BHS robotics finishes 3rd at state

BHS robotics finishes 3rd at state Brian Smith Tue, 02/13/2024 - 8:24 pm   Both the Bryson High School senior robotics (top) and freshmen robotics teams finished third at the RECFVEX UIL Texas State Championship last Monday, Feb. 5. Contributed photos   Chance Hand wasn’t going to let his last opportunity at the RECF-VEX UIL Texas State Championship go for naught. Bryson High School’s senior robotics team had a rough start at the meet Monday, Feb 5 in Houston — a broken computer and robot malfunctions to start the day and losing its first three matches put the team on its heels. After each team member received a pep talk from a parent, the squad turned things around, made it to finals and wound up finishing third in the state out of 25 teams. Hand, the robot driver, and teammate Isaiah Garcia both gave credit to teammate Tagen Barrington’s mom Misty, among others, for getting the squad back into the right frame of mind. “We knew we could do better,” Garcia said. “Tagen’s mom simply told us not to give up.” “Without her pep talk, I don’t know if we make it to finals,” Hand noted. ”I think we were just tired of losing.” HandsaidheknewBryson was one of the top teams at the meet. After three wins to reach the finals, where the top 16 qualify, the squad’s run of good luck continued as Bryson made it to the semifinals where the group ultimately lost. Hand, Garcia and Barrington were joined by Caden Bock and Lilly Lowe. The future is bright for the BHS robotics program as the school’s freshman robotics team, consisting of Ryon Curd, Gavyn Leatherwood, Jace Jackson, Mike Belyeu, Violet Hull and Molly Kate Barrington, also finished third at state in their division. Curd, who was driver and programmer of the robot which could catapult balls and shoot items into a designed area, said making it to state and doing so well was a definite boost to the ego. Curd noted the team made improvements in what they had and opted to not build a new robot for the state tournament. “We took what we had and fixed the problems and it worked,” Curd said. Curd said the squad still has a chance to qualify for worlds but would need to receive an excellence award, given to the top team in a respective meet, at their tournament Monday in Iowa Park, to do so. The team will also have also have another opportunity when they compete at the Texas Region 5 VRC High School Championship, currently set for Saturday, Feb, 24 in Abilene.