Masuk Robotics Competes in State Tournament Saturday

This month 47 students from Masuk High School and Jockey Hollow Middle School competed in the Fifth Annual Manchester Vex Robotics Qualifier. At tomorrow’s State Championship they vye for a spot at Vex Robotics' World Championship in California in April.

"We are excited and ready," said Robotics Coach Bill McDonough. "At our last tournament, there were several 'successes' for the seven teams from Monroe. We were pleased to have five of the seven teams selected to compete in the alliance rounds. We were especially proud to have two teams from Masuk join forces with the the Jockey Hollow team and form an alliance.”

McDonough said this is the first year that the middle school students have competed with the older kids.

“It’s nice to see them collaborating and partnering together at the competitions,” McDonough said.

Two teams from Monroe were part of the semi-final round at the Manchester tournament. In addition, Masuk High School’s team So Vexy It Hurts received the competition’s Best Design Award for having “the best overall engineering process, design and documentation.”  

So Vexxy It Hurts’ team members are Michael Massar, Chris Massar, Emily Hammer, Joe Pires, Colin Dablain, Neil McCarter, Ryan Tedesco, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Kyle Grabowski.

McDonough said, “Once again our students continue to show why we are one of the best robotics programs in the state. Our members demonstrated teamwork, sportsmanship and keen knowledge of the game and rules. As the season progresses, we are continuing to learn and grow as individuals and as a team. If we keep up the hard work, (Assistant Coach) Mike Cercone and I are confident that we’ll be once again sending one team--or more--to the Vex Robotics Global Championships in California this spring.”

For more information and to make a tax-deductible donation to Masuk Robotics, contact William McDonough at wmcdonough@monroeps.org or call 203-452-5823.