SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s own FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team, The Second Mouse, could be on their way to the World Championships if all goes well at a regional competition in New York City next weekend.

The Second Mouse, also known as FRC Team #5030, competed recently in the Finger Lakes Regional qualifier at RIT. Up against 50 highly competitive teams from all over the state as well as Montreal and Ohio, The Second Mouse was one of many vying for only six advancement spots to the FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

The SUNY Polytechnic FRC team is a regional team consisting of area high school student team members mentored by SUNY Poly engineering students. The team is open to any area high school student who applies and currently has members from Utica, Whitesboro, New Hartford and Sauquoit High Schools.

Though they battled a few technical glitches early on, causing them to drop two matches, the team went on undefeated through ten rounds, heading into the quarter finals ranked fourth out of the 50 teams that attended. While they sailed through the quarter finals undefeated, their luck ran out in the semi-finals with a very close loss to the number-one ranked alliance.

During the competition’s award ceremony, The Second Mouse’s own Jason Martino was one of only two students selected as a Dean’s List Finalist - the second year that the SUNY Poly team has had one of its high school student members selected for the distinguished award, which recognizes the leadership and dedication of FIRST’s most outstanding secondary school students.

However, not all hope is lost and the team has one more chance to win a coveted spot at the FRC World Championship. That chance comes as they compete at the New York City Regional April 8-9 at The Armory Track & Field Center. Located at 216 Fort Washington Avenue in New York City, the team invites anyone who’s interested in making the trip themselves to join them and see first-hand what SUNY Poly’s own FRC team is capable of.

If you can’t make the trip, a live stream of the April 8-9 event in New York City  will be available at: http://www.twitch.tv/nycFIRST