The excitement from the Detroit World Championships carried us in to the WOW (West Virginia,
Ohio, and Western/Central Pennsylvania) District Championships on May 19, 2018. The top 32
teams from our district competed for the title of District Champion in this off-season competition
held at the Rike Cener at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Girls of Steel qualified for the WOW District Championships through our performance at the Miami Valley Regional and Greater Pittsburgh Regional. Unlike other district championships, the results of this competition didn’t matter as much, as the winners did not qualify for any other competitions.
Over the course of the morning and early afternoon, Clyde, our 2018 robot, played in 5
matches, ending the qualification matches in 12th place with three wins and two losses. In
alliance selections, we were chosen by team 7165, Perkins Robotics, for the fifth alliance. Our
alliance then picked 7274, Brashear Bulls Robotics, the rookie team that Girls of Steel mentors!
Finally, our alliance chose team 6916, Iron Thunder, to round out our alliance. Our alliance played two tough quarterfinal matches against the fourth alliance and were unfortunately eliminated. However, our team was very proud of our performance – we continued to excel on the scale, and our new climber worked several times throughout the day! Our drive team, consisting of many seniors, was able to end their time in FRC on a high note with the matches that we won, and the rest of the team came together throughout the day to scout, make quick fixes in the pit, and cheer on our robot!
Even though we competed against FRC 677 Murphy’s Outlaws in the playoffs, the photo above shows how the drivers from each team swapped headgear to show support for each other.
We’re all very proud of our performance this season. Now, we are looking forward to more
off-season events, working on summer projects, and running camps and other outreach programs throughout the summer!