Team Spudnick. Photos by Chris Westcott.
By Misty Hall
It’s official! Team Spudnik is going to Regionals for the second year in a row! The OVS robotics team advances to the Los Angeles Regional Championship on Saturday, March 7, where they will face off against 47 other teams from across Southern California.
The Spudnik squad is comprised of senior Gary Zhou, juniors Ethan Gao (L17) and Mark Pindur, sophomore Jack Lai (L18) and Grace Huber, a student at Thacher School who was invited to join the OVS team. Spudnik earned its qualifying position following last weekend’s Interleague Tournament in Palmdale, placing 7th out of 31 teams.
OVS’s other two teams, Spudbot (high school) and Savagebot (middle school), did not advance to regionals, but did well in the competition. If Spudnik does well at Regionals, the team could advance to the world finals, held in Houston, Texas, in April to compete against 600 other robotics teams from across the nation.
“This year I think we have a robot that is quite competitive,” said OVS Robotics coach Chris Westcott. “Being paired up with the right teams, we could do well.”
Gary Zhou, Jack Lai, Grace Huber, Mark Pindur, and Ethan Gao.
