Sonoran Science Academy's FRC Team, CRUSH 1011, competed on April 19th-22nd at one of two international FIRST World Championships. CRUSH was invited to compete at the FIRST World Championship after both winning the Colorado Regional and earning the Colorado Regional Chairman’s Award. At the FIRST World Championship, held in Houston, Texas, CRUSH competed with 400 teams from dozens of countries. CRUSH joined a total of 12 Arizona teams represented the state at the Championship.
During the matches, CRUSH had the opportunity to work with teams from around the world. CRUSH finished our Thursday and Friday qualification matches with 7 wins and 3 losses, securing an 8th seed position overall. This was another great achievement for the team, as CRUSH has never been in a top 8 position at the World Championship in our 15 year history. CRUSH was selected first overall but the number one seeded alliance, FRC Team 973, Greybots. Our west coast alliance went undefeated in the division elimination rounds to become the Division Champions. Next, our alliance would face off with winners of the 5 other divisions to determine the Houston FIRST World Champion, where we advanced into the Einstein Finals. Our alliance won both of our hard-fought finals matches by narrow margins and we were named the Houston FIRST World Champions.
However, our journey isn't over yet. On July 28th & 29th, CRUSH will be invited to compete in an exposition with the winning alliance from the other FIRST World Championship, being held in St. Louis April 26th-29th. This July event, held at a school near FIRST Headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, is called the "Festival of Champions" and will be an opportunity for CRUSH to compete and celebrate FIRST. While at the event, CRUSH will also be invited to attend a VIP dinner with FIRST officials and the FIRST Founder, Dean Kamen, as well as tour DEKA, FIRST Headquarters, and more! We are using our gofundme campaign to offset some of the costs for students to attend this truly once in a lifetime opportunity.
During the matches, CRUSH had the opportunity to work with teams from around the world. CRUSH finished our Thursday and Friday qualification matches with 7 wins and 3 losses, securing an 8th seed position overall. This was another great achievement for the team, as CRUSH has never been in a top 8 position at the World Championship in our 15 year history. CRUSH was selected first overall but the number one seeded alliance, FRC Team 973, Greybots. Our west coast alliance went undefeated in the division elimination rounds to become the Division Champions. Next, our alliance would face off with winners of the 5 other divisions to determine the Houston FIRST World Champion, where we advanced into the Einstein Finals. Our alliance won both of our hard-fought finals matches by narrow margins and we were named the Houston FIRST World Champions.
However, our journey isn't over yet. On July 28th & 29th, CRUSH will be invited to compete in an exposition with the winning alliance from the other FIRST World Championship, being held in St. Louis April 26th-29th. This July event, held at a school near FIRST Headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, is called the "Festival of Champions" and will be an opportunity for CRUSH to compete and celebrate FIRST. While at the event, CRUSH will also be invited to attend a VIP dinner with FIRST officials and the FIRST Founder, Dean Kamen, as well as tour DEKA, FIRST Headquarters, and more! We are using our gofundme campaign to offset some of the costs for students to attend this truly once in a lifetime opportunity.