This past weekend, the Bellarmine Robotics team stretched itself to the limit, entering three separate tournaments with high expectations.  When the dust had settled, The Cheesy Poofs had won not just all three tournament titles, but many performance and judged awards as well.

Bellarmine’s FIRST Robotics Team 254 started its season with a bang this weekend as the Cheesy Poofs proved victorious at the Silicon Valley Regional. Remaining undefeated through the qualifying matches, with a record of 9-0-1, the Poofs formed a powerhouse alliance with Mountain View’s Team 971 and Saratoga High’s Team 649. Team 971’s incredibly quick and efficient scoring ability and Team 649’s impenetrable defense allowed the alliance to break through the elimination rounds, ending with a heated finals match against fellow NASA team The Space Cookies. After a breathtaking back-and-forth battle for points, the Poofs claimed the regional victory.  Team 254 also received the Industrial Design Award, which celebrates robustness in design and mechanical efficiency, for its beautiful and effective machine.

This win marks the 11th time Bellarmine has won the Silicon Valley Regional in the 12 years it has been held, and continues the Cheesy Poofs' unparalleled 12-year streak of regional victories.  The team's next challenge lies in the City of Lights, at the Las Vegas Regional.  From there, the robot travels to Atlanta for the 2010 FIRST Robotics World Championship.

Meanwhile, three students represented the Bells at the VEX Robotics National Championship in Omaha.  Team 254A, already one of the most targeted teams coming into the competition, became the object of exotic tactics throughout the three-day tournament, with opponents draining the field of balls even during the qualification rounds.  At the end of qualifying, however, the Poofs stood alone as the undefeated #1 seed, going 8-0-0 in a very tough pool.  For the elimination rounds, the team selected Team 3018 (Iowa) and Team 404B (Southern California) to be its partners.  In finals, the alliance was pitted against an incredibly talented trio consisting of Team 1 (Nebraska), Team 12B (Virginia), and Team 990B (Michigan), but managed to pull through nonetheless, winning the national title with a 14-0-0 record.  To top off the day, the team won both side challenges, the Think Award (for best programming and automation), as well as the Tournament Excellence Award (for best overall performance and design).  Under normal circumstances, the Excellence Award disqualifies a team from receiving any other judged awards, but the rule was bent for this particular National Championship.

Team 254A has now finished its regular season and awaits VEX World Championships in late April.  Since October, the team has shattered several single-season records: most tournament wins (9, previous record 3), most Excellence Awards (4, previous record 2), most World Championship qualifications (21, previous record 5), and most awards received at a single tournament (5, mandated to be 4).  The team has won all three 2010 “Super-Regionals” – Florida’s All-Star Championship, Hawaii’s Pan-Pacific Championship, and Nebraska’s Championship of the Americas.

Finally, a few more Cheesy Poofs spent their Saturday at the Tracy VEX Robotics Competition.  Teams 254C and 254Z battled it out with other local powerhouses the entire day, and eventually came head-to-head in the final match.  Unfortunately, a robot malfunction on 254C's alliance led to a lopsided 254Z victory, but 254C was awarded the Excellence Award for its consistent match performance.  254Z also won the Robot Skills competition, allowing 254 to walk home with the majority of the day's World qualification spots.  To cap off the event, Team 9339 (comprised of two Class of 2014 Bells) was presented with the Judges Award.

This weekend concludes Bellarmine's regular VEX season.  Bellarmine will send an unprecedented 6 teams to World Championships, netting a combined 35 qualifications and 16 tournament titles this season alone.