The Harriton High School robotics' program recently took part in the VEX Robotics Eastern Pennsylvania State Championships held at Norristown High School as the Rams competed against the 72 best teams from throughout the state in a high-stakes day of engineering, coding and competition.

All four Rams’ teams performed well and proudly represented their school throughout the day, however, only two were able to qualify for the afternoon’s elimination rounds: Team 197D, composed of Noah Berger, Nolan McGrane-Moffitt, Christian Potts, Ozan Borowiak, Surya Penna and Joseph Cerniglia; and Team 197C, which consisted of Joe Cicalese, Atticus Brown, Konrad Krowicki, Dylan DiMartino, Grant Williams, Amit Banerjee and Lyon Cun.

After a series of dominant performances in the preceding local and regional events, Harriton’s Team 197D, also known as Dedalus, proved their early season success was far from a fluke as they ultimately brought home the competition’s two biggest prizes! Not only did the Rams claim the Eastern PA Tournament State Championship, they were also selected by the judges as winners of the prestigious Excellence Award, which is presented to the team that demonstrates preeminent technical prowess as well as exemplary sportsmanship and decorum, among other qualifications.

Along with the plaques usually presented to winning teams, Dedalus was also awarded a pair of VEX Robotics State Championship banners, which are now proudly hanging in halls of Harriton!

Following their resounding success at states, the Rams, who have taken top honors in every competition they have participated in this season, also punched their ticket to the VEX Robotics World Championships, which will be held in Dallas, Texas at the end of April. Congratulations to the Rams on these extraordinary results and best of luck at Worlds!

For those who are interested in exploring the complex rules of VEX Robotics’ tournament gameplay, click here!

FULL RESULTS

Harriton Team 197A: Liam Yates, Eden Weathers, Yara Kharrat

• Finished 3-5-1(49^th)

Harriton Team 197B: Audrey Mariani, Calla Bornfriend, Jeremy Senh, Josh Bornfriend, Jade Ho, Tenzin Jo

• Finished 4-4 (31^st)

Harriton Team 197C: Joe Cicalese, Atticus Brown, Konrad Krowicki, Dylan DiMartino, Grant Williams, Amit Banerjee, Lyon Cun

• Finished 4-3-2 (26^th)
• Qualified for the afternoon elimination matches but didn’t place

Harriton Team 197D: Noah Berger, Nolan McGrane-Moffitt, Christian Potts, Ozan Borowiak, Surya Penna, Joseph Cerniglia

• Finished 12-2 overall
• Tournament Champions
• Selected for the Excellence Award (Qualifier for World Championships)

Harriton Robotics Advisors: Travis Lehman & Christine Kiley