Team Swiftie Panthers take first place at Hood River Valley High School FLL tournament (includes slide show)

Thirteen of those teams had been mentored by the A05 Annex Team throughout the season and were local elementary and middle school FLL teams. All 18 teams competed in Robot Competition matches with robots they designed and programmed. They also completed an Innovation Project to help oceans as part of the FLL Submerged season and showed the Core Values throughout the tournament.

The Champions First Place Award went to team Swiftie Panthers, a neighborhood team from Hood River Middle School who performed well in all areas of the competition, said a press release. Natalie Garrison, Frank Henderson, and Everson Flood not only designed and programmed the robot that had the highest score of the competition, but they also designed jewelry using plastic reclaimed from the ocean and beaches, which they plan to sell as a way to keep plastics out of our oceans.

The other winners of the day include The Danger Kitty Team from Hood River New School, who took home the Champion’s Second Place Award; the Mex Robotexs from Mid Valley Elementary school with the Innovation Project Award; The Galaxy Narwahls from Westside Elementary with the Core Value Award; The Building Bananas, a Hood River Neighborhood team, with the Robot Design Award; Team Aquatic All-Stars from Hood River Options Academy and Team Signautica from the Hood River New School with Engineering Excellence Awards; the Avocodeos from May Street Elementary School with the Rising All-Star Award; and the McNary LEGO Monster Squad from Umatilla with the Motivate Award.

Six Teams will be advancing from the tournament to the State FLL Competition on Jan. 18.

“A05 Wants to thank all the tournament sponsors and donors as well as all the Volunteers who made the tournament such a great day for Robotics in the Gorge,” said the press release.

The tournament and season was sponsored through grants obtained through ORTOP, the Gorge STEM Hub and local donors.

"The Hood River County School District was instrumental in allowing us not only the space for the competition, but also practice spaces, and storage space for the teams," said a press release. "The technology director, Tod Hilstad, helped us run the tournament on the day of the competition. We also have several local sponsors who helped with food during the tournament for the participants including Domino’s Pizza, and Rosauers Supermarket."