Photo by Joselyn King Members of team “Iron Patriots: Yikes” robotics team from Wheeling Park High School, playing on the left side, compete in the semi-finals at the conclusion of the Gateway To The West robotics tournament on Saturday at The Highlands Sports Complex.

TRIADELPHIA – Three Wheeling Park High School teams qualified in the top 10 among 80 teams from across the nation at the “Gateway To The West” robotics tournament on Saturday at The Highlands Event Center.

But in the end it was two John Marshall High School teams that took home trophies.

“‘Iron Patriots: Yikes” from WPHS became the first local team to make it into the semifinals of a VEX Robotics signature tournament, according to Ohio County Schools innovation coordinator JoJo Shay, organizer for “Gateway To The West.”

JMHS team “Hippies” won the sportsmanship award at the end of the tournaments, and team “George Drinks Water” was presented the “Create” award for problem solving and ingenuity.

At stake in the tournament was an automatic birth to the VEX Robotics World Championships slated for Dallas, Texas this spring. Winning the trip was an alliance of teams “Blast Off” from Broadview Heights, Ohio and “Meta Mafia” from Indianapolis.

At the end of the qualification rounds on Saturday, WPHS team “Iron Patriots: X-Ray” ranked second going into the elimination rounds. Right behind them was “Iron Patriots: K-Otic in fourth; and “Yikes” in 10th place.

The John Marshall team “Atomic” stood at 11th, and “George Drinks Water” ranked 13th.

This made for five local teams going into the elimination rounds of the tournament.

“X-Ray” was upset in the first elimination contest, while “K-Otic,” “Atomic” and “George Drinks Water” went down in the quarterfinals before “Yikes” was defeated in the semifinals

“We are on a national stage, essentially, and we’ve shown that we can hang around and be part of the discussion when it comes to the best of the best,” said WPHS robotics coach Luke Shepard. “We will move forward. “We saw some of the best of the best today, and we will get better.”

Team “Yikes” is composed of senior Levi Henry; juniors Josh Hess, James MaClay, Rex Montayne and Mya White; and freshman Liam Donaghy.

“There were a lot of good matches and good scoring,” said Montayne. “We couldn’t have been happier with the outcomes.”

He noted “Yikes” got to see how better teams play matches and learn from what they do.

“Strategy is key,” added Hess. “Strategizing is very helpful, and that is what we did today.”