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Pope John robotics team advances this weekend to regional tournament in Pa.

| 14 Mar 2016 | 07:50
    Members of FTC Team 248 are, from left: junior Clint Roe, Hamburg; senior Tianyu ‘Robin’ Zuo, Andover; and sophomores Keith Johnson and David Lubertazzo, Sparta, and David Dietz, Lafayette.
    Members of FTC Team 248 are, from left: junior Clint Roe, Hamburg; senior Tianyu ‘Robin’ Zuo, Andover; and sophomores Keith Johnson and David Lubertazzo, Sparta, and David Dietz, Lafayette.

SPARTA — Pope John XXIII Regional High School Robotics Team 248 earned first place as a captain team in the New Jersey State Championship Robotics Tournament, held February 28.

All three Pope John teams were captain teams entering the elimination rounds, an extremely high achievement given that only eight captain slots are available. Pope John’s two other FIRST® Tech Challenge (FTC) teams — Team 247 and Team 10159 — made it to the divisional finals before being eliminated.

Pope John Team 248 now advances this weekend, March 18-20, to the Eastern Super Regionals, where 72 teams from 14 states will compete at the University of Scranton, Pa., for berths at the World Championship Tournament held in St. Louis, Mo., in late April.

FIRST® Tech Challenge, a robotics competition for students in grades 7–12, challenges teams of up to 10 students to design, build, and program their robots to compete in alliances against other teams. Teams earn rewards for the competition as well as for community outreach, design, and other real-world accomplishments. Those who progress from local qualifying tournaments to state championship tournaments will advance to the World Championship Tournament.