Albany, NY — The MechaSpartans had a great first competition at Albany Academy for Girls on Saturday January 14th. This was the first time a lot of the team have actually been to a FTC competition, so it was an eye opening experience! Overall, for our first time out, we did great, staying in the top 7 of the 19 competing teams throughout the entire day. Going into the last match, we were in 3rd place, and set up very well to move on to the final tournament, but due to some unforeseen circumstances with our alliance team and our last match, we finished 6th overall. Overall, 6th place finish is amazing, especially considering our robot was not ready to practice driving or with the autonomous mode until the day before! We also were awarded second place for the Think award, which acknowledges a team that demonstrates the Engineering Design Process, showing their design process through their Engineering Portfolio. Overall great work by everyone on the team, and we are looking forward to making improvements and doing even better in two weeks in Broadalbin Perth!!