The Upper School robotics team, “RoboFoxes,” had a phenomenal performance this weekend at the FIRST Tech Challenge Virginia State Championship at the University of Virginia. The team made it through qualifying rounds, ending up as the No. 2 seed in the harder of two divisions totaling 42 teams.

Unfortunately, the No. 1 team in the division squeaked out a close victory in a best of three series to advance to the national tournament. The scores of the three games in the semi-finals were 51-75 (loss), 84-55 (win), and 89-95 (loss).

The team had some spectacular matches throughout the day, said US computer science teacher and team advisor Darby Thompson, with two of their scores in the top three game scores of the entire day. The RoboFoxes, named after the Religious Society of Friends founder George Fox, were awarded Piedmont Division Finalist medals.

The team is now directing its energy towards MATE ROV, an exciting new underwater robotics competition run by the Marine Advanced Technology Education Center.