The 2022 CowTown Throwdown at Lee’s Summit High School occurred this past weekend. Team 1764: Liberty Robotics, the high school robotics team at both Liberty and Liberty North High Schools competed. This off-season competition is an excellent opportunity for new members to see what a competition is like. 

   “It was the first competition I have ever been to, and it was really cool to see all of the other robots people had built,” junior Nicole Chen said. 

   Chen is a first-year member on the team and is a part of the programming team. Team 1764 has seen an increase in members this year, so this competition was vital for them to get to know their new team members. 

   “I was able to get closer to the other people on the team and just get to know them better,” Chen said.

   Even though it is a two-day competition compared to the official typical three-day competitions, CowTown is a valuable experience. For teams as a whole, this competition is a great way to test out new ideas, drive teams, and so many other things. 

   “The competition was important to teaching students how we operate as a team and how everyone has a different solution to the same problem,” senior Thomas Jayroe said. 

   Teams compete with 3 other teams to form an alliance. The team competed under the third-ranked alliance in elimination rounds, advancing all the way to the semi-finals where they lost in a tie-breaker. 

   “It was fun that we got so far, but it was even more fun that we got to work with other robots that complemented ours,” Jayroe said.