On Sept. 15-16, Clark Magnet High School’s robotics team, Team 696, reigned victorious in the fourth Chezy Champs Competition, an annual off-season robotics tournament at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, hosted by Team 254, also known as Cheesy Poofs. In a competition among 43 robotics team, the alliance, consisting of Team 254, Team 1011 and Team 696 won the Chezy Champs Competition first place trophy.

During the second day of the competition, after the qualifying rounds among the 43 teams in attendance, the real tournament began comprised of elite qualifiers. As the match continued, the number of teams dwindled to the top eight alliance picks, to the semifinals, and ultimately the highly anticipated finals.

The Chezy Champs competition soon intensified between the two alliances. Team 1001 and Team 696 would work towards four routers and then switching to a defensive position, slowing down other robots.  It was the best of three games. One won and one lost game. The upcoming match decided everything. “The score was neck and neck, there was no one team stomping the other team,” said junior (Syed) Ismail Hasan, Java Programmer, “Watching the timer reach zero and seeing that we had the highest score was the best feeling ever… to see that we had won was even better.”

However, the final match rested upon the shoulders of junior Noraik Krakishyan, Java programmer and robot driver, who controlled the fate of Team 696 through operating the robot. Krakishyan said the competition escalated during the last seconds driving the robot.“There was 10 seconds left on the scoreboard, the crowd was going crazy. Everyone was yelling at me to go climb, which was worth 50 points,” said Krakishyan. “At that very moment, everything was tuned only the robot and I existed. We ended up climbing really fast. After I knew it, we had won the match!”

Concluding their victory, the three-team alliance — Team 696, Team 254 and Team 1001 — was awarded the coveted “Winner” blue banner and trophy celebrating with the exploration of San Jose. The team will be competing again for one final time in the 2017 season at Marina High School in Huntington Beach Oct.  7 and 8.