By Morgan Kindermann

Special to the Leader

Oxford High School’s FIRST robotics competition team, Team 2137 The Oxford RoboCats competed at Macomb Community College First District Event presented by DTE the weekend of March 30-April 1. There the team made it to the semifinals with their robot finishing with a qualifying record of 7-5.

Out of the 40 teams which competed at Macomb, Team 2137 placed 12th in qualifying matches. During alliance selection, they were picked by the 5th alliance captain Team 5555, Spartans, from Warren. They then picked Team 8385, Metal Madness from Mount Morris, as their third alliance member. Unfortunately, the alliance got knocked out after their second loss in their third semifinals match.

“We did really well,” said Gage Durst, a member of the programming subgroup. “Although, there were some reliability issues.” It was a hard-fought competition all weekend for all teams as they were competing for state qualifications.

The RoboCats next event was the FIRST in Michigan State Championship presented by DTE foundation the weekend of April 6th-8th. Team 2137 competed virtually for the Engineering Inspiration Award after winning the award at the week 2 district event at Kettering University. They are one of 20 plus other winners vying for a spot at the World’s competition in Houston, TX, later this month.