2018 Capital City Classic
By Ria Nair ‘21 and Diana Labonville ‘21
The Janksters competed at Capital City Classic, their second and final 2018 off-season competition, in Davis in late October. The Janksters traveled with only a third of the team, about 20 people, which meant many people stepped into new roles.
The Janksters played seven qualification matches and two quarterfinal matches. They had many obstacles, such as quick turnaround between matches, a smoking motor, damaged ropes for the elevator mechanism and shaft collars for the intake mechanism, bearings falling out, and the robot falling during one of the qualifications. The pit crew was able to swiftly fix the robot each time, having it back on the field in time for each match. After the qualification matches, the team was designated as the sixth-seeded alliance captain and selected Teams 6474, 5419, and 5496 as alliance partners. They fought hard in quarterfinals but experienced an issue with an ethernet cable. Although they had a successful plan, their robot lost connection, causing them to only make it to the quarterfinals.
Throughout the competition, there were three main jobs: scouting, pit crew, and drive team. Sandhya Ganesan ‘21 said, “Not everything went perfectly, but we learned from our mistakes and used them to improve our robot, our scouting, and our pick list; that, in the end, helped make us alliance captains and gave everyone an unforgettable experience.” She also noted that scouting provided an interesting challenge as she had to work with a fewer number of people. Jayel Ambat ‘19 said, “Going to Capital City Classic gave me hope that the team can continue growing in robot design, drive team performance and overall collaboration,” and mentioned that this experience was something that piqued her interest for knowing what will happen in the next build season. Shivani Vazirani ‘20 shared that even though it was her second time going out of town for a competition, it was her first time in pit crew outside of San Jose. “t was an awesome experience and I learned a lot about how to collaborate with other people to make sure things run smoothly. It was great to see all of our work pay off on the field.”
Overall, Capital City Classic was an amazing learning opportunity for the team and a time for them to come together as a family to show our support and spirit for each other. The Janksters look forward to upcoming competitions and an exciting build season.