Wheeling Park High School robotics team members Peilin Bruce, left, and Lydia Bunce, show off some West Virginia spirit while competing at the Vex Robotics World Championships this week in Dallas. (Photo Provided)

WHEELING – A robotics team from Wheeling Park High School made it past the qualifying rounds at the Vex Robotics Championships in Dallas on Thursday, but didn’t survive the following elimination round.

The Iron Patriot Mark 1 team finished fifth among 80 teams in its division to qualify for the elimination round.

The Vex Robotics Championship is set up in the following way, Shay explained.

There are 10 divisions in the world tournament, each with about 80 teams. The top 16 teams in each division make it to the elimination rounds, and each team can choose any team from their division with whom to ally, she said.

Iron Patriot Mark 1 – led by senior Ethan Matz – advanced to the elimination rounds in the engineering division Thursday afternoon. Other members of the team included Adam Ginting, Isaac Garrison and Christopher Alkhouri, who was not able to make the trip.

Iron Patriot Mark 1 placed fifth in its division after concluding the qualifying competition with nine wins and one loss among their 10 matches.

The Wheeling team next chose to align with a team from Redmond, Washington, for the next round. They were eliminated following a close match, according to Shay.

It is just the second year of robotics competition for Ohio County Schools. Last year – in its first year – the school district sent four teams to the world championships. This year, there were nine teams total that qualified – including three high school teams and six middle school teams.

Last year, no teams from Ohio County made it past the qualifying round at the world championships.

“It was a fabulous day. They did so well,” Shay said of the Iron Patriot Mark 1 team. “They have made it further than any of our teams last year in the worlds. Whenever you are progressing, you have to take that as a win.

“To do this well on a world-class stage speaks to their hard work, their design thinking and all the things it takes to be great at this. We’re super proud of all three (high school) teams. People here have won all their regions, and it’s a feat getting her in itself.”

As for the other teams from Wheeling Park High School, Iron Patriots Mark 4 finished 66 among the 80 teams in their division; and Iron Patriots Mark 3, 78th.

The middle school teams begin their competitions in Dallas today.

Ohio County Schools sent 39 students to Dallas, and they are expected to return to the Mountain State on Sunday following the competition.