Tampa Prep's robotics teams update: 

Team 727 Bale (middle school) which is captained by Lauren B. with members Stone F., Alex B., Simon S., Toren C., AJ W., Sonia P., and Lilah S. is still currently ranked 1st in the North/Central Florida Region in Skills and has received an invitation to the VEX States Championships on March 11th in Alachua, FL.  
 
Team 727 Crimson (high school) which is captained by Casey K. with members Nathan V., Calvin V., Ben B., Jack R., and Luca T. is currently ranked 9th in the North/Central Florida Region and has received an invitation to the VEX States Championships on March 11th at USF in Tampa, FL.  
 
Team 727Gold won the Excellence Award in the Tampa Prep tournament so has a States bid.
 
Three teams competed in the VEX Tournament at Steinbrenner High School on January 14th: 727C (listed above), 727R captained by Daniel L., with members Jai P., Daphne T., and Elissa D., and Team 727D captained by Leela P., with members Adin S., Stefan S., Finn M., Andrew C., and Sharif C.  All teams competed very well and after the qualification matches, 727D was ranked 9th, 727C was ranked 14th and 727R was ranked 17th in a field of 33 teams. Team 727R made it to the quarterfinals but ultimately ended the bid there.
 
This was a preparation tournament and the goal was to modify and test improved robots and try to increase the Skills scores to get a bid to the VEX States.  To that end, team 727D increased their personal best Skills score to 113 which moved them from a ranking of 22nd to 19th in the North/Central Florida region!  Likely the top 25 teams will advance to the VEX States Championships with 4 tournaments to go.
 
Next up: One more tournament on February 25 in New Port Richey. Then VEX States on March 11th. Congratulations to all the hard-working teams that have made it to States so far. Go Red! Go Gold!