Both the George Washington and Tunstall high school robotics teams pushed through a challenging contest to earn high rankings during the first qualifying meet of the season, team coaches and players said.

I think we did great, much better than we originally thought we were going to do, said Tunstall build and drive captain Mindy Duenas.

Tunstall and GW both participated in the FIRST For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Chesapeake districts Southwest Virginia event Saturday and Sunday in Blacksburg, competing against dozens of teams from Virginia, Washington and Maryland. The Tunstall Trojans finished the qualifying round ranked second and GWs Team Talon finished 14th.

Both teams also competed in the tournament phase. GW bowed out in the quarterfinals while Tunstall was able to advance to the semifinals, eventually losing to the No. 1 seed in a close match.

During each match, alliances made up of three teams use their robots to complete several objectives. This year the objectives are steampunk-themed, so the robots load fuel balls into a boiler and carry plastic gears up a rope system with the goal of powering a steam vehicle.

Team Talon coach Daniel Waters said he was very proud of his teams first performance of the season.

It was good, Waters said. We kept it really close.

During qualifying, GW also was part of the alliance that set the event high score of 360 points.

Tunstall coach Edward Sherlock whose team is competing in its second year said the robot excelled at the gear placing objective.

It was a strong climber, and thats worth 50 points at the end, Sherlock said.

Team Talon also scored points by winning the Gracious Professionalism Award, which is given to the team that displays qualities like teamwork, effective collaboration and positive attitudes. The award is determined by judges conversations with fellow alliance teams and event personnel.

That award shows you are willing to work together. Waters said. Thats kind of the ethos of FIRST.

The Trojans and Team Talon next will head to the second qualifying event on March 24-26 in Glen Allen. If the teams qualify, they will be able to attend the championship event on April 5-8 at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Waters said about 60 teams will qualify for the championship, based on a rankings system which takes into account awards, wins and losses, tournament placement and other factors. Currently, Team Talon is ranked 14th and the Trojans are ranked 18th.

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Dan River Region robotics teams take to the field - GoDanRiver.com