On February 11, Omaha North High School’s robotics team participated in a competition that took place in Rapid City, South Dakota. There were about 28 teams that participated, yet both of North’s teams performed well. 

Two North staff members, and five students made up the teams that competed. Team 1064A were the runners up in the tournament, and team 1064Z won the judges award, which is an award that the judges give out when they feel a team deserves recognition.   

“It was fun to go compete against other teams in a different state, and to just see the results that we saw, which were really positive and even though we lost we were able to go take a trip and see Mount Rushmore which is a really cool experience, so overall, the whole day was a highlight,” said Jonathan Flores, 11, a member of 1064A. 

Jeremy Wiemer, North High teacher and head robotics coach, said that the 1064A team had been on a streak of finishing in the semifinals at events, so making it to the finals this time was the high point of the the competition for him.  

“Quarter finals, we wouldn’t get past that for a while, and then we finally reached semi finals and it took us two semifinals where we lost, but we finally got into finals, so hopefully if the trend keeps going we have state next, so hopefully we can win at state,” said Flores. 

With the skills score they achieved, the robotics team has qualified for state, which is their next competition.  

“It’s going to be really hard, there’s a lot of really good teams and its going to be a really competitive year, so its going to be tough, but hopefully we do good,” said Flores.