Hillsboro Free PressHillsboro youth participate in state robotics

Photo provided From left, Jacob Denholm, Austin Rempel, Noah Bartel and Paul Glanzer represented Hillsboro High School at state in robotics on Saturday, March 3. Photo provided

Four Hillsboro students competed on March 3 at the Kansas VEX State Turning Point Robotics tournament.

Austin Rempel explained how the tournament works.

“Vex turns out a game every year. This year it was called Turning point. Everyone forms a team and they build a robot to play in that game and try to score as many points as they can to beat other teams. Skills is where one team tries to score as many points as they can without going against anyone,” said Rempel. “I had fun. It was my first time at State. I was disappointed in my ranking, but I enjoyed getting the experience. I’m going to do it again next year.”

In Skills, Jacob Denholm was ranked fifth, Noah Bartel came in at eighth, Rempel at 12th and Paul Glanzer at 18th.

In Qualification, Denholm ranked fourth, Rempel took 14th, Glanzer came in at 16th and Bartel placed 25th out of 29 teams. Denholm made it to the first round of finals.

“This was my first time making it to state which I was pretty pumped about,”said Glanzer. “One team will let another team borrow a part if they need it. It’s a really good community of people. Everyone is really respectful of each other. It also tests your problem solving skills.”

Their next tournament will be the Turning Point Robotics Tournament on April 16. Creigh Bell is the team’s coach.