Kimball Area Public Schools sent all six of their middle school (four teams) and high school (two teams) squads to the 2023 Minnesota State Vex Robotics Championships on March 2-3 at the River’s Edge Convention Center in St. Cloud. The invitations to the State Championships are based upon awards that the teams earned during the regular season.
There are nearly 500 active robotics teams across the state of Minnesota, which includes teams in grades 4-12 in the IQ, Middle School and High School divisions. Only the top 120 teams in the state are invited to compete at the state competition, which included all six of Kimball’s MS and HS teams.
“The level of competition at this year’s State Tournament was off the charts,” said Kimball’s head robotics coach Kevin Kieke. “This is the best talent that I’ve seen in my 10 years of coaching and attending State Tournaments.”
“Our Kimball teams struggled to find wins in the qualification rounds,” added Coach Kieke. “However, through hard work and perseverance in the end, many of our Kimball teams advanced to the final rounds.”
Kimball’s Team 739E was the #12 seed going into the Finals, facing some very tough teams from across the state. In the Championship match they were edged in the first match with a score of 79-74 and then fell in the second match 107-62 (best 2 out of 3) to earn
second-place overall in the Middle School division. This runner-up finish earned Team 739E an invitation to the 2023 Vex Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas, in the last week in April.
It was a similar come-from-behind story in the High School division. Both Kimball Teams 739B and 739C battled throughout the day and ultimately did not place.
In addition to the direct head-to-head robotics competition, there are also judging awards. These awards are based upon team interviews, the quality of the team design documentation, and other criteria specific to the development of the team and robot.
Kimball’s Team 739C won the “Inspire” Award. This award is given to the team that through their design and team influence, they inspired other teams throughout the season to reach their goals.
“Although this is not a World Championship invite, this “Inspire” Award is a great accomplishment to the maturity of these students,” said Coach Kieke. “This team has demonstrated skills that they will utilize throughout their lives.”
Meanwhile, Kimball’s Team 739B won the “Think” Award. This award is a judged award given to the team which demonstrated the most unique and innovative approach to programming and software to operate their robot.
“Members of this team have been working on a robot programming method for almost three years and within the last few months have been able to make it work,” added Coach Kieke.
This “Think” Award earned Team 739B an invitation to the upcoming World Championships in April.
This is the Kimball Robotics program’s largest senior class with eight senior students on the roster in 2022-23. Congratulations to all eight seniors on an incredible run with Kimball Robotics. Those senior students include: Andrew Hennen, Carter Lommel, Robert Curtis, Jackson Fink, Ryan Serbus, Izaak Theis, Austin Kunkel, and Bryce Lindberg.
In the first decade of robotics in Kimball, the program has sent six teams to four of the 10 World Championships.
Kimball Middle School/High School World Championship appearances:
• 2017 (one team)
• 2022 (two teams)
• 2023 (two teams)
Over the next couple of weeks, the Kimball robotics students will be working hard to raise funds to make the trip to Dallas, Texas, for the 2023 World Championships a reality. If you are interested in sponsoring this trip, please contact one of the robotics coaches or the Kimball district office.