On Sunday, the Oliver Ames robotics team, the Iron Tigers, won a district competition for the first time ever in their seven-year history. Although in 2017 the team went to the finalists for their two district competitions in both Bridgewater and at Bryant College, the Iron Tigers have never won a district championship. Peter Buterbaugh, a senior at Oliver Ames and the design captain for the team, expressed his intentions and hopes for the team on Saturday, when the team was ranked only 15th in the playoffs.
“I believe this team has the capability to go onto the district championships (become finalists) and do a lot better. It just requires that we get a lot of practice. I believe based off the overall team morale we’ve had,which has been absolutely excellent, we can certainly move on and we can continue to do great thing within the season.”
The team spent the weekend competing in playoffs, quarter finalists, semi finalists, and finalists in order to finally go to the final round which ended with only a five point difference on Sunday between the two teams. The Iron Tigers also won a safety award for having the safest pit area (where maintenance is done to the robot) as well as the best overall team safety presence.
When meeting up with Peter on Sunday after the win was announced, with his smile from ear to ear, it was obvious that his hope in the team was not faulty.
“The team is finally getting the recognition and reward it deserves for all of the hard work that we’ve put in both during this season and previous. But, Despite this win, our season is far from over and much still has to be done. Regardless, I am glad that the Iron Tigers have gotten this far, especially considering out performance last competition”.
Zaeed Arif, a senior at OA and the senior team captain, also expressed his excitement after the announcement of the win.
“Winning a district event competition out of 42 teams, some of which are perennial world championship caliber teams is a huge milestone for the Iron Tigers. Having all the support from our mentors and peers really helped us adapt to and overcome a lot that we’ve had to deal with earlier this season and this blue banner makes it all worth it.”
The team has struggled repeatedly throughout the year. The team is currently fighting for recognition from the school system as an official “team”, which has not allowed them to receive any funding from the Easton school budget. The annual cost to run and maintain the robot is an immense 30,000 dollars which is supplied so far by local sponsors and fundraising done by students.
Chris Crouch, the build and drive team captains and a senior at Oliver Ames explained his excitement. “These freshman are so spoiled. It took us seniors four years to achieve this accomplishment.” Short and simple, yet rightfully said.
During their first district playoffs their robot suffered repeated problems with main structural components and also a complete failure of some of the most important mechanisms. They did not advance to the finalists and ended up in 36th place in the playoffs. Just two weeks later, the Iron Tigers have declared themselves as a true challenge to face for all teams after their important and jubilant win.
Time will tell how the Iron Tigers will use this win to propel them through further events.