Tiredness, excitement and suspense. These words all describe the 2013 New Jersey VEX Robotics Championship that was hosted right here at Cherry Hill East.

At 6:30 a.m. on an overcast Saturday morning, Cherry Hill East was ready for the biggest New Jersey VEX Robotics competition… ever. I slowly sauntered to Cafeteria Two where the practice fields were set up, saluted the rest of East’s teams that were already there and started to work on my team’s robot. Over the course of the next couple of hours, teams from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and other states poured in.

By 8:30 a.m. the cafeterias were bustling with activity and charged with music. Teams were constantly improving their robots, in feverish attempts to surpass their opponents.

“My team worked extremely hard last week to build our robot and got less than two hours of sleep the night before the competition,” said Lewis Cohen (’15), the captain of one of East’s teams, named 2616C: Crispy Creme Robotics.

59 matches were played one after another in Cafeteria One over the course of four hours. Two alliances of two teams competed in each match. As a result, a continuous stream of people was moving through the teacher’s lounge where Aramark was generously serving lunch.

At around 2 p.m. the qualifying rounds were over and the quarterfinals began. Two of East’s teams, 2616B: Black Tie Robotics and 2616F: Frightening Lightening passed the qualifying rounds. 2616F lost in the quarterfinals, but 2616B held strong. Eventually 2616B made it to the finals.

Two alliances of three robots competed in four riveting games for the finals. In the first game, the robots on 2616B’s alliance fell and the opponents won. Nevertheless, 2616B’s alliance came back to beat the others 175 to 81 in the next game.

The third game was record-breaking. Normally, the competition would have ended, a winner decided and the crowd sent home. But no! Just before the timer buzzed, 2616B’s opponents scored another sack, and the game was tied at 85 to 85!

A fourth game was arranged, the teams were positioned and two minutes later 2616B’s alliance was declared the tournament champion and each team received an invitation to the World Championship held in Anaheim, California.

“We set up the competition, excelled in the competition, won the competition, and then tore down the competition,” said Conrad Kramer (’14), a member of 2616B.