Frog Force Wins Big at West Michigan Districts, Clinches State Spot

 This past weekend, Frog Force competed at the West Michigan District Competition at Grand Valley State University.  Although many teams were unfamiliar to us, we were glad to see some great teams from the "East side" come over as well including the Killer Bees from Notre Dame Prep, Lightning Robotics from Plymouth-Canton Schools, and the Robostangs from Northville.

Throughout the qualification rounds on Friday and Saturday, Frog Force dominated the competition, winning 11 times and losing only once.  Their success put them in a spot they have never been before in an official FIRST competition: #1 alliance captains.  Armed with the responsibility of choosing the best robot in the field, they asked team 85, Built on Brains from Zeeland to join them in their ascent to the finals.  Also joining the alliance was team 2188 from Belding High School.

The alliance fought hard during each round and made it to the finals where they were overcome by teams 216, 1254 and 1918.  Despite our robot's success, at the end of the day we were ecstatic by something even more important to Frog Force: our recognition as a recipient of a District Chairmans Award.  Thanks to the strong presentation from Nathan Van Nortwick, Katie Dale, and Jina Kim as well as the many people who have been developing our team ever since 2001, we were chosen to receive FIRST's most prestigious honor.  This honor will allow us to compete for the Michigan State Championship Chairman's Award alongside six of the finest teams in Michigan.  

In addition to winning the Chairman's award, www.frogforce503.org got some long-earned recognition.  The website was recognized for its build log as well as other great information and earned the Website Award for being the best website at the competition.  This is only the second time in team history that the team has won this award.  

The West Michigan District Competition was a great addition to our already amazing 2009 season.  Overall this year we have attained:

1 Xerox Creativity Award

1 Underwriters Laboratories Safety Award

1 Website Award

1 Finalist Award

1 Top Seed Placement

1 Chairman's Award

and have a record of 24 wins and 12 losses, 15 of those wins happening last weekend.  Frog Force would like to thank all the mentors, students, alumni, teachers, and parents who have made this team the team that it is and hopes to continue its success this season. 

We continue our season next week at the Michigan State Championships where we will try to earn our third consecutive win at the EMU convocation center. Interested in joining us?  More information is located at www.firstinmichigan.org