The “Night Fall” team from I. J. Holton Elementary School in Austin earned state championship honors in the Vex IQ Robotics Minnesota State Championship Tournament in St. Cloud, Feb. 2-3.

Team members were Kyle Petrik, Gavin Brekke, Moreti Idjidina, Trenton Whiteaker, Noah Sash and Dylan Greenlee.

The team finished first out of 27 teams in the teamwork rounds and took first place in the finals, which earned members a trip to the World Championship, according to adviser Adam Ansorge. The group even beat the top scoring middle school Vex IQ team, he said.

I. J. Holton’s Girlbotics team members, pictured from, from left, Nadia Hummel, Izzy Sellers, Anita Rao, Savanna Morehouse and Zara Ansorge. Photo provided.

There were other Holton teams that did well. The Girlbotics team finished sixth in the teamwork rounds and finished fourth in the finals. Members Nadia Hummel, Savanna Morehouse, Anita Rao, Izzy Sellers and Zara Ansorge also won the Design Award, which resulted in an invitation to the World Championship. The award recipient team demonstrates the ability to implement the most effective and efficient robot design process, and the ability to produce a quality robot with minimal adult assistance.

Other criteria included keeping a clear and complete engineering notebook of the design process; having effective management of skills, time and material resources; being able to explain how they developed effective game strategy and design; and demonstrating teamwork and effective communication.

Ansorge said while these younger teams will not attend the World Championship, “we enjoy the honor of the invite.”

One other team — the Knights of I.J. — was eighth in the teamwork rounds and made it to the final round of the top 10 teams, finishing fifth.

Its members included Poe Meh, Matthew Phanchan, Addison Boysen, Desirae Perdomo, ViVi Kelley and Alex Dube.