When many students were enjoying a three-day weekend, Tampa Prep's VEX Robotics Teams were hard at work in Apopka, FL, competing with 21 other teams from around the North Central Florida region.

Team 727 Gold was represented by:
  • Elise Bertolino '24
  • Alex Lacy '22
  • Adam Thompson '21
  • Johann Vennink '21
Team 727 Red was represented by:
  • Tim Calco '21
  • Ryan Kelly '22
  • Abby Mansour '22
  • Hailley Siswanto '23
This was the first competition for both teams, and they competed well with Gold at a 6-1-0 record (ranking second) and Red with a 5-2-0 record (ranking fifth) after the qualification matches. Both teams then formed an alliance and reached the finals at the tournament. Unfortunately, they were defeated in the finals by another alliance.
Tampa Prep VEX Robotics Team Tampa Prep VEX Robotics GOLD Team


However, during the Skills portion, a team is allowed one minute in Drivers to operate the robot and score as high as possible and Gold scored an official best 91 points (126 possible) and during the Programming portion (completely autonomous), Gold scored an official and astounding 88 points. This gave them a combination of 179 points which was
a tournament-high, and won Team Gold the Robot Skills Award. 

Next up is the VEX Competition at Tampa Prep on January 30, 2021.
 
Watch the Programming Skills run of 88 points. The next nearest opponent score was 52 points. This will likely earn Team Gold a spot at the VEX State Competition at the end of March. We wish both teams the greatest success as they march toward VEX States. Special thanks to Tampa Prep parents Sharon Mansour and Bonnie Bertolino for helping out with snacks and lunch during the tournament.