Fairmont Robotics “MegaHertz” claims fourth in State

FAIRMONT — The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Robotics Tournament was held on Saturday, May 10, at Gangelhoff Center at Concordia College in St. Paul.

The top 36 robotics teams in the state qualified for the tournament based on performance and awards received at their regional events during the competition season.

The Fairmont High School Robotics Team, The MegaHertz, qualified via its first-place finish at the Lake Superior Regional in Duluth and fourth-place finish at the 10,000 Lakes Regional in Minneapolis in March. The team also won the Autonomous Award at both events for excellence in programming their robot.

The MegaHertz amassed a 5 to 2 record and earned the rank of fourth during qualification matches. During alliance selection, the number one ranked team, Inconceivable from Rochester, chose the number two ranked team, KnightKrawler from New Brighton, moving The MegaHertz up to captain the number three alliance. To round out the third alliance, the Fairmont team chose F.R.E.D., the team from Warroad, and the Tonkabots from Mound.

In their first semi-final match, the Fairmont-led alliance lost 236 to 207 to move to the lower bracket. In their next semi-final match, the MegaHertz suffered a narrow loss, 236 to 227, in part due to a malfunction that rendered one of their alliance’s robots disabled for a portion of the match and ended the alliance’s tournament play. The MegaHertz, along with its alliance partners, finished in fourth place.