Different year, same results for the Gross Catholic robotics teams at the Nebraska State High School Robotics Championships on March 4-5 at Cross County Community School in Stromsburg.
By the time all robots were powered down, it was Gross Catholic hoisting up multiple banners.
The Gross Catholic robotics teams finished first and second in the tournament bracket and first in robot skills at the state championships. A Gross team also won four judge’s awards and the school qualified four teams for the world tournament in Dallas, Texas during the first week of May.
“I was really proud of what the kids did,” said Steve Hamersky, the advisor for the robotics team. “It was actually a very difficult tournament.”
Hamersky said over the past 12 years the robotics competition scene has become more competitive each year. He said the team looks forward to competing in the world championships in May.
“One of the things that we always strive for is to have some of our Nebraska teams make it into the finals and we’ve had that before in a number of areas,” Hamersky said. “We’re looking to really try to get into the finals at the world championship.”
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The Gross Catholic robotics team did not just get lucky at the past two state championships — they put in the time.
Hamersky said the students are working with their robots from 3 to 8 p.m. five days a week and participate in tournaments on the weekends. He said that amounts to almost 35 hours each week, on top of school work, that the students dedicate to robotics.
Students adapting at tournaments is one of the main reasons Hamersky has stuck around and maintained a vested interest in the robotics program.
“The most exciting part for me, is when something unexpected happens at a tournament, they have a limited amount of time to solve the problem and get the robot back on the field and they manage to get it done,” Hamersky said.
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