MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A local youth focused robotics team has just returned home from competing in Tennessee.
Mountaineer Area Robotics (MARS) team 2614, a Morgantown based team made up of 41 students from five different counties, competed in the Smoky Mountains Regional during the first weekend in April. The team competed for three days as part of the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) event, which was held in Sevierville, Tennessee at the Sevierville Convention Center.
According to a release sent out by the team, MARS competed with their robot, Marvin XVIII and took home a 9-8 record throughout 17 matches. As a result of being ranked 20 out of 47 teams, the team was selected for the 7th alliance by team 3966 Gryphon Command and team 3937 Breakaway to compete in the playoffs. This partnership reached the finals against the 1st alliance. In the end, the MARS alliance was defeated with a 1-2
finals record, finishing in 2nd place in the event.
MARS also won the Gracious Professionalism Award at the Smoky Mountains Regional, which is given to the team who demonstrates FIRST Core values and works together with teams both on and off the field. This was accomplished through their Tucker Teams initiative where they
assist teams with damaged or troubled robots.
MARS will participate in the FIRST World Championship in Houston, Texas on April 16-19th.