Between March 14th and 16th, 13 robot teams from clubs in Rice Lake ranging from fourth grade to high school competed in the 2025 VEX State Robotics competition held at the RESCH Center in Green Bay. All teams qualified for this prestigious event through winning regional tournaments, ranking amongst the top 30% of teams in the state through their skills scores, or being awarded at top level judged award based on their engineering design process and team interviews.
Spartan Robotics Club
Team Triple H and Team Gear Shift
Two elementary teams from the Spartan Robotics club based out of St. Joseph School competed in the VEX IQ elementary tournament. Team Triple H consisting of fifth graders Max Delf, Zach Haughian, and Eli Helgeson finished in 2nd place overall posting one of the highest overall scores at the tournament in their final match. They were awarded the prestigious Design Award at the event which qualifies them as one of only four elementary teams in the state to represent Wisconsin at the Worlds tournament held in Dallas, Texas in May. consisting of St. Joseph students Lucy Peterson, Elise Labonte, and Vera Helgeson also competed.
Team Ctrl-Z, Team Code Crushers and Team Black Market Beans
Three middle school Spartan Robotics teams competed at the VEX IQ Middle School level portion of the event. Team Ctrl-Z consisting of students Michael Peterson, Jacob Charron, and Addie Pacholke were awarded the Innovate Award, one of the most prestigious awards at the tournament, for their creative solution and documentation to the game’s problem. This award qualifies them for the World’s Robotics middle school level tournament that will be held in Dallas,Texas in May. Team Code Crushers consisting of Siddharth Ganesh, Grey Randall, and Serena Mincoff finished 2nd place in the skills competition recording the 2nd overall highest score in the state this year. They were awarded the Build Award at the event. Also competing was middle school team Black Market Beans consisting of sixth graders Landry Scott, Miles Turner, and Lohith Kommu who finished in the top half of all competing robots during qualification rounds. Also competing from Rice Lake were two teams from Rice Lake Middle School who were first time state qualifiers.
Spartan and Warrior Robotics coach Jeremy “Pete” Peterson commented
“I am so excited for all of the Spartan Robotics teams that competed. All did extremely well throughout the 2-day event and it is a rare honor that we are sending two teams from the same organization to Worlds this year. The kids represented their school and community really well. Despite any success, where I feel they really impressed was in their positive interactions with the other teams that collaborated with at the event. Although they are competing against other teams now, in the future many of these same students will be working together to solve problems in our communities.”
Warriors Robotics Club
From the Warrior Robotics Club based out of Rice Lake High School, six teams qualified for the high school VRC event, the most teams by any single club in the state. During the high school event, three of Rice Lake’s teams competed well throughout the two day event to earn a spot in the Saturday evening elimination rounds. Team Ingenuity, consisting of students Gavin Curtis, Nathan Vanderzanden, and Owen Roethel finished 13th overall in the Skills competition and were awarded the Build Award at the event, the highest ranking state level judged award the club has ever received.
Robotics coach Jeremy “Pete” Peterson commented
“By the metrics which we measure our success this year at the state tournament, this was one of the most successful we have ever had. Team Ingenuity matched the highest end of year rank we have ever had a team and competed well all year. As well, rarely are we able to get three of our teams into the finals matches at state. This is a testament to the countless hours of hard work that all of the Warrior Robotics students have put into their robots and design journals this year.”
Demonstrations
On Wednesday, March 26th from 5:30-6:45 pm in the high school cafeteria the public is invited to meet many of the students who will be representing Rice Lake at the World’s Robotics tournament this year along with representatives from the Warrior Robotics state level teams. Students will demonstrate their robot designs on game competition fields. This is part of a larger Career and Technical Education project showcase at the high school that evening.
Mentor Jeremy “Pete” Peterson commented,
“Competitive robotics in our area has exploded the last few years now with clubs based out of the high school, middle school, and St. Joseph school. None of the great things that these students are doing would be possible without the support of so many parent and community volunteers along with the generous financial support of McCain Foods, Thomas Precision, Rice Lake Weighing, the Education Foundation of Rice Lake, and the Rice Lake Celebrity Charity Classic. Competing at the World’s competition though will require more supporters. We would love to talk with any community business or organization that might consider helping sponsor the trip for team Ctrl-Z and Triple Threat. They will be ambassadors now only for our community, but for the state as a whole this year. I believe that any group that meets these young kids and learns about how much they have committed this year to robotics will feel confident in how well they can represent the best of our community’s youth.”
Interested sponsors should contact Jeremy “Pete” Peterson at Rice Lake High School for more ways they can support robotics in the area.
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