By Tommy Smeltzer

For the second week in a row, Chaminade robotics has brought home the top award from a regional tournament and qualified another robot for the Vex Robotics World Championships in Anaheim next April. Three sub-teams from Chaminade’s Eagle Engineering robotics (1138-A, B and K), along with Chaminade Middle School’s “Generation Vex” Vex team, Team 83 competed with 34 other California teams at the “Clash in The Canyon” robotics tournament on Saturday, with Team 1138-B taking home the tournament’s highest honor, the Excellence Award. Winning their way to tournament finalists for the second week in a row, Team 1138-B dominated many of their qualifying matches with the exceptional speed of their scoring mechanism. Driver’s Michael Amoun ’13 and Anthony Gruppuso ’13 and field coach Brandon Sezgin ’13 had been a leading force for Eagle Engineering since summer; designing, building and practicing with their robot nearly every day with excellent focus and leadership. They were supported by a highly dedicated pit of Greg Campbell ’15 (builder and driver support), Chance Bisquera ’15 (pit management and scouting) and exceptional programming by Kevin Pick ’15. Thomas Manfredonia ’13 and Andrew Adalian ’15 from Team 1138-A also provided support in this win. Team 1138-A and Team 83 from the middle school also made it into the finals, and Team 1138-K performed admirably in their first appearance of the year. The team next competes in Granada Hills on November 17th, where it hopes to qualify its three rookie teams for the annual championship event.