NIAGARA FALLS, NY — LaSalle Preparatory School robotics program in Niagara Falls is sending four teams to the Vex IQ World Championships this weekend in Dallas, Texas.
The teams are all ranked 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in New York State.
The all-girl team of Lillianna Misterkiewicz and Anelie Copelin, both of whom are heading to World's for the second time, are prepared and eager.
"That's what you work for, for the entire year. Your goal is to make it to States, and then you try to make it to Worlds, so Anelie and I won the Excellence Award at States, and we also got the design award, so we are heading to worlds again," said Misterkiewicz.
The teams compete in different divisions and will face off against students from across the world.
The middle schoolers were first given the robots in boxes and assembled them at the beginning of the year.
The challenge this year — called Slapshot — is to get the most points by shooting these discs into the area of play; each section has a certain number of points.
"At the end of each match, the teams can go to the side of the field and touch into the zone, and it will add a point to each zone," said Copelin.
The teams have the potential to reach a total score of 315, and the whole game takes only a minute.
All while competing with other people you do not know on your team.
"Even if we cannot speak the same language, we had a common goal, and we knew how to get a strategy," said Misterkiewicz.
The teams will be competing this weekend and you watch the competition here.
The complete roster is below:
