MSET 649 makes history at Central Valley Regional

A couple of years ago, the school’s MSET (Mechanical Science and Engineering Team), went to the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) nationals in St. Louis, Mo. This year, the team hoped for another great season where they would move on to the national competition. The team came close, placing sixth overall in the Silicon and Central Valley regionals.

“Being ranked sixth is actually pretty impressive. I think it’s pretty cool that the team went from being concerned about whether or not the robot would work to being concerned about winning,” club president Michael Zuccarino said.

In FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), each team must win at least one regional in order to qualify for the nationals. The Silicon Valley and Central Valley regionals were held in San Jose and Madera, respectively.

This year’s FIRST game, called “Rebound Rumble,” focused on shooting foam basketballs into hoops placed at three different heights. The higher the basket, the more points each shot was worth. During the end of each match, teams could balance their robots one of three bridges, located at the center of the field to earn bonus points.

“I felt we were completely prepared for whatever the competition decided to throw at us. We had replacements for everything and most importantly, a plan," Zuccarino said. 

For day one of the Central Valley Regional competition, the team faced opponents from all over the United States and even international teams from Mexico and Brazil. 

"On the first day we played with 1717, [a Los Angeles team which was] the best in my opinion, and they set up the level of intensity [for us to work together,] which we worked hard to maintain. We won every match except one," said Zuccarino. 

On the second day of the competition, MSET finished their remaining three qualification matches by lunch and ranked sixth out of 44 teams. This meant that they were able to pick other teams to compete with them through their final matches.

Zuccarino said that he had picked team 3256, the Warriorborgs from Valley Christian. According to him, their robot was “solid” and could do just about anything for the alliance. The team was also very experienced, which influenced Zuccarino’s choice on the third Alliance member. 

MSET won its first three quarterfinal matches and advanced to semifinals, where they were defeated by Bellarmine College Preparatory, the regional champions for the second time, ending the competition for MSET.

“This year’s season went pretty smoothly. There were, as always, some hiccups, but they weren’t as major as last year. this year we had a very competitive robot that was competition ready within just five weeks. The entire team did a great job this year," Zuccarino said.