Robowranglers Bring Home Best Web Site Award from FIRST Competition
April 6, 2005
Greenville Herald Banner

Greenville High School's robotics team, the "Robowranglers," returned home Saturday after finishing as a quarterfinalist in regional competition.  Students, engineers, parents and sponsors have been at Reliant Arena in Houston since Wednesday participating in the FIRST Lone Star Regional competition that drew teams from over 40 schools across the United States, Ecuador, and Brazil.

During the event, the team earned the Best Web site Award for the second consecutive year.  The award recognizes excellence in student-designed, built, and managed FIRST team Web sites.  The winner is determined via an independent judge panel consisting of professionals from the technological community.

The Web site, designed by GHS senior Matt Mahrer, will advance to national competition April 22-23 in Atlanta and compete against 29 other regional Web site winners.

The team's robot, "Lone Star," finished the qualifying matches with a 5-5 record.  The robot scored an average of 11.9 points per game.

In alliance pairing for playoff matches, the "Robowranglers" were chosen as a partner by the "Cypher Botics" team from Houston and the South San Antonio Robotics Team.  The three-team alliance finished in seventh place in the quarterfinals.

"The team had a ton of spirit and we flat out designed an awesome robot," said senior Beth McClellen.  "The students designed and built it, and it worked.  What more could we ask for?"

The "Robowranglers" also adopted a rookie team from Brazil to support at competition this year.  The Senai Mecatrônica team from Caxias Do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil walked away as the highest seeded rookie team and with the Rookie All Star award.

The robot's drivers at Houston were McClellen and juniors Kevin Morris and Michael Risley.  Players on the field were senior Brian Wight, junior Jason Maxwell, and sophomore Nathan Follett.  Students were led by captain and senior Sarah Wright.

The "Robowranglers" are a robotics team comprised of students and teachers from Greenville High School and engineers from L-3 Communications Integrated Systems that participate each year in the FIRST robotics competition.

Those wishing to learn more about the team can log on to the award-winning Web site, http://www.robowranglers.com.