Triple Helix, the Menchville robotics team, finished once again as a finalist in the Chesapeake District Robotics Championship on April 5-8, setting the team up to compete in the national FIRST Robotics Championship.

While most Menchville students were savoring the last few days out of school, members of Triple Helix traveled to Richmond to compete in the district-wide robotics tournament at Virginia Commonwealth University. Menchville’s team qualified to participate in the championship after placing as a finalist in the first competition, and taking first place at the second. At the Chesapeake District Championship Triple Helix faced off against 58 fellow Chesapeake District teams, many of which are fellow District Event Finalists and Winners for this season.

Triple Helix started off the championship on the right foot, winning their first qualification match by 121 points. The team then went on to compete in 11 more qualification matches and win 7 of the total 12 played. All four quarterfinal and semifinal matches were won by Triple Helix’s alliance, allowing them to move on to the finals round of the tournament. On an alliance with two other teams from Maryland and Virginia, The Blair Robot Project and ILITE Robotics, respectively, Triple Helix won the first out of three finals. This cost the Menchville team first place, but they still came away from the championship with a second place win and their second Gracious Professionalism award of the season.

Strong performance in the past three FIRST Robotics events has earned Triple Helix a spot in the national FIRST Championship. This tournament of over 407 teams from the United States and four international countries- Canada, France, Netherlands, and Taiwan. The national competition will take place on April 29^th in St. Louis, Missouri. Students will be able to find match scores and watch the livestream video on the FIRST Robotics National Championship website over the weekend of April 29^th:

https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2017cmpmo