Triadelphia, Sherrard Teams Win State Middle School Robotics Title

WHEELING -- It was an all-Northern Panhandle final at the VEX Robotics West Virginia state championships Tuesday evening. And in the end, five Panhandle teams -- two from Ohio County and three from Marshall County -- qualified for the world championships in Dallas later this spring.

Buckets from Bridge Street Middle School, Roboraiders from Triadelphia Middle School, and Lil' Squirtz and George Drinks Water from Sherrard Middle School all reached the finals and all now have the opportunity to complete in the VEX Robotics World Championships to be held April 25-May 3 at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas. The middle school competition will be held May 1-3.

A third Sherrard team, The Shaft Collars, also qualified for worlds because Buckets qualified three ways and George Drinks Water qualified two ways, which opened up spaces for other teams.

In the finals, Buckets and George Drinks Water battled against Lil' Squirtz and Roboraiders in a best-of-three matchup. Lil' Squirtz and Roboraiders took the first match, with Buckets and George Drinks Water coming back to take the second and set up the tiebreaker.

In Match 3, it was Lil' Squirtz and Roboraiders who ultimately took gold.

George Drinks Water also took the tournament's Design Award, while Buckets won the Robot Skills Champion Award and the Excellence Award. Those awards also qualify teams for worlds.

JoJo Shay, innovation director at Ohio County Schools, said it has been amazing to watch the students devour the new game after it was released last year, seeing the teams work through the summer and continue evolving through the state tournament.

"To just stand a little bit back from the court today and watch them honestly brought tears to my eyes," she said. "I'm so super proud of them and all of our teams. All of the teams that were here have grown so much over the year and that's really what this is all about, learning skills and learning to cooperate."

Zak Klemm, one of Sherrard's coaches, said he could barely hold his emotions together after watching three of his teams qualify for the world championships. Sherrard qualified one team for worlds last year and of the three that qualified this year, only one student was a returning member.

"It's because of the strength of our eighth graders helping lift them up, that they even had a chance to do this," Klemm said of his army of first-timers.

Klemm added that it has been impressive to see Ohio County and Marshall County middle school robotics teams showing out the way they did Tuesday.

"There's really a renaissance here in the Northern Panhandle," he said. "I mean, six of our seven spots I think are going to be devoted to Northern Panhandle teams."

Sherrard's other coaches are Ana Klemm, Eric Cunningham and Dan Gatts. Amanda Francis coaches Bridge Street Middle School and Amber Bishop coaches Triadelphia Middle School.