All three Cherokee County Robotics Teams have qualified to compete in the State Robotics Competition to be held at Jacksonville State University on March 8th.

Team Cherokee (Age 14 and under) won first place in their division during the Robotics Competition hosted by Cherokee County Career and Technology Center and Jacksonville State University on February 8th.

Team Cherokee (age 14 and under) – pictured from left to right in top picture:

Dylan Mackey, Jonathan Rainey, Dru Rainer, Brett Mackey, Dylan Keasler

It was announced that Team Cherokee had won state.

A few days later it was discovered that the event held in Centre would not count as the state tournament and they would have to go to Jacksonville State University to compete on March 8 in the State Tournament.

Team Cherokee is coached by Randy Rainy and Betsy Rainer and will compete in the VEX IQ Division.

ROBO Warriors and Gears of Cherokee (age 15 and over) teams both qualified for state tournament with their finishes also on February 8th.

Pictured above on the left kneeling is Trevor Webb (Gears of Cherokee) standing behind Trevor is his teammate Makala Chandler.

Moving left to right standing: John Robert Moon, Caden Garrett, Jay Rainey, Evan Chandler, and kneeling is Eli Wolf (ROBO Warriors)

Both teams will be competing in the High School Division at the State Robotics Tournament!

Coaches for both high school teams are Keith Tolbert and Randy Rainey.

ROBO Warriors finished 2nd place overall and Gears of Cherokee made it to the quarterfinals.

Keith Tolbert, one of the coaches for the high school teams, told us during the event in Centre that these students design and build their own robots.

Teams that finish first place at state in their division will qualify to go to the Robotic World Championship held in Anaheim, California in April this year.

Cherokee County could end up with two teams going to the world championship this year.

Special thanks are in order for everyone who helped make the First Annual Cherokee County Robotics Event possible: Jacksonville State University, Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce, Gadsden State Community College, and the faculty and staff of the Cherokee County Career and Technology Center.

Also, a special thanks to the team coaches; Keith Tolbert, Randy Rainey, and Betsy Rainer.