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Thunder Robotics took home their second Conference Championship in a row last weekend. The
Northern Minnesota Robotics Conference held their championship tournament on October 28th in Alexandria, MN. Thunder Robotics is a charter member of the 30-team conference. Team 876 was ranked 1st after the qualifying rounds and picked Nevis as their Alliance partner. The team from Alexandria was added as their third Alliance partner.
Championship play began and the Thunder defeated the 4th ranked alliance to move into the finals,where they faced the number two ranked Alliance. Team 876's alliance defeated them and then had to beat them 2 more times, using the new FIRST playoff rules, running their record for the day to 11-2. The Thunder Robotics team played almost flawlessly to take home the Championship of the NMRC. Drive team members for the Thunder were Ethan Snyder, Ava Chandler, Elias Redding, Spencer Boe and Trevin Hins. The group did an excellent job, improving as the tourney continued. The pit and programming crew that kept the robot running well was Hayden Lloyd, Beau Enger and Ava Chandler.The scouting and strategy team of Angela Zaruba, Drea Rodriguez, Chris Parsons, Drew Handly, Jay Nelson and Jett Schwehr made great choices as the Alliance they picked worked well as a unit. Mentors that helped guide the team were Ben Thorsgard, Justin Nelson, Candice Nelson, Ray Aamold and Mike Voglewede. On October 29th, the Thunder competed in the NMRC "Open"  which was open to non-conference teams and Team 876 did well, finishing 4th in the qualifying rounds and ending up winning 2nd place overall. The team had an overall record of 20-4 in the two days, which was a tremendous workout for the students as they haven't been in an official competition for quite awhile.
The NMRC tourney was the last official competition for "Dillion" the robot, which will now be retired. Next up for Team 876 will be the challenge for 2023. The new game is called "Charged Up" but the details will not be made public until January 7th, at which time the robotics students will have about 6 weeks to design and build a completely new robot. Thunder Robotics will compete in the Great Northern Regional in Grand Forks Regional on March 10-11 and in Lacrosse, WI on March 24-25, 2023.