Two Pike Road residents from Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School helped propel Team Warriors to one of the standout performances at the VEX IQ Robotics Alabama State Championship, held February 27–28 at Auburn University’s Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. The team’s achievements capped a season of excellence and brought significant pride and recognition to the school community.
The State Championship—Alabama’s premier VEX IQ event—features only teams that qualify through top results at local and regional competitions, including Teamwork Champion, Skills Champion, and the Excellence Award. That selective field made this year’s high-level performances even more notable.
Team Warriors comprises Pike Road residents Justin Lee (13) and Charlotte Lee (12), along with Montgomery teammate Euvin An (12). Throughout the 2025–2026 VEX IQ “Mix and Match” season, the trio collected 17 awards across eight regional events, including the Excellence Award, Teamwork Champion, Skills Champion, Design Award, Think Award, Judges Award, and Innovate Award—securing their State Championship berth early. They also set, and continue to hold, the Alabama Skills record with 436 points.
At the State Championship, Team Warriors delivered across both event formats:
- Teamwork Matches: In eight 60-second collaboration matches, they topped 200 points seven times, with two runs surpassing 300. Their peak score of 336 points was the highest recorded during the event.
- Skills Challenge: Though short of their own 436-point state record, the team posted 356 points—more than 60 points clear of second place—to claim Alabama Skills Champion honors.
Their season-long consistency now has them ranked No. 1 in Alabama (out of 283 teams), No. 9 in the United States (out of 4,815 teams), and No. 24 in the world (out of 6,500 teams).
The team’s latest success builds on a historic résumé. At the 2025 Alabama State Championship, Team Warriors captured 1st place in Skills, 2nd place in Teamwork, and the Amaze Award. They repeated the exact feat in 2026—earning back-to-back Skills State Championships and consecutive Teamwork runner-up finishes. Across both the 2025 and 2026 State Championships, Team Warriors were the only team to collect three major honors—Skills Champion, Teamwork Runner-Up, and the Amaze Award—underscoring their sustained excellence.
The Amaze Award recognizes teams with exceptional overall performance, strategic execution, robot reliability, and match excellence—reflecting not only technical mastery but also poise and preparation under pressure.
VEX IQ Robotics is an international STEM program for elementary and middle school students in which teams design, build, and program robots to tackle strategic game challenges. The 2025–2026 game, “Mix and Match,” tasks teams with sorting and placing game elements to maximize scoring. Events feature fast-paced Teamwork matches and the Skills Challenge, which tests both driver control and autonomous programming.
Next up, Team Warriors will represent Alabama at the VEX Robotics World Championship this April in St. Louis, Missouri, carrying the Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School banner onto the global stage. Their dedication, discipline, and teamwork reflect the mission of Catholic education—pursuing excellence with integrity, perseverance, and faith—as the school community rallies behind them for Worlds.
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