The Wayland Union High School FIRST Robotics Team #6090 captured the district championship at Gull Lake High School Saturday.

The competition was held Friday and Saturday when they competed against 40 teams.  They share the title with two other alliance teams: Team #3538 “RoboJackets” from Auburn Hills and Team #4453 “The Red Hot Chili Bots” from Marshall.

This year’s game from FIRST is called Power Up. The robot, which is built by the students over a six-weeks period, picks up cubes (milk crates) to move and outweigh each side of a scale. Teams place cubes on the scale to gain ownership, which earns points for each second. In the last 30 seconds of the match, teams can also climb from a rung for 30 extra points.

They also received the Industrial Design Award, sponsored by General Motors, which celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively addresses the game challenge. The award is given to a design that is simple, efficient and practical. The entire machine reflects a system design approach and is capable of withstanding the rigors of the contest and servicing is easy.

Since entering its FIRST Robotics Challenge three years ago, Wayland Union High School has consistently improved and performed at high levels, going to state competition last year. The team was also awarded the All-Star Rookie Award during the 2015-2016 season.

The high school team consists of 20 students. It is coached by Keith Kohtz and includes mentors Rod Killips, Dave Merice, Joe Sobiesczyk, Pat Chandler and Tammy Kohtz.  Team members include Jordan Bancino, Eric Chandler, Grace Chandler, Jordan Fitzgerald, Jacob Fredericks, Matthew Gauthier, Renee Gauthier, Tabitha Halicki, Collin Heavner, Ethan Killips, Landon Kohtz, Christian Mattingly, Dawson Merice, Samantha Mucci, Hope Reurink, Ian Russell, Gabriel Shafer, Alex Sobiesczyk, Joseph Thayer and Kyle Thelen.

To learn more about Wayland Union High School’s FIRST Robotics Team, please visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wus6090

(Photo courtesy of Laurie Zywiczynski)