November 13, 2023
Rutherford County Schools
Four Rutherford County schools competed in and won several accolades at the Music City BEST Robotics Competition at Lipscomb University on Nov. 4.
The schools and teams were: Blackman Middle School — Blackman Robotics (Zach Martin); Christiana Middle School — Cougar Nation Robotics (Price Stallard); Rock Springs Middle School — Rock Springs Middle Robotics (James Elliott); and Stewarts Creek Middle School — Stewarts Creek Robotics (Kevin Welch).
Stewarts Creek won the top team award and Blackman won third. Both of those teams will advance to the South’s BEST Championship at the University of North Alabama, which will take place Dec. 1-3.
Category Winners:
- BEST Mascot: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- BEST Costume: Blackman Robotics
- BEST T-shirt Design: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- BEST Team Website: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- Blood, Sweat, and Duct Tape Award: Cougar Nation Robotics
- Most Photogenic Robot: Blackman Robotics
- Most Robust Machine: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- BEST Team Exhibit Design and Construction Award: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- BEST Teacher of the Year: Zach Martin (Blackman Robotics)
- BEST Spirit and Sportsmanship: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- BEST Engineering Notebook: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- BEST Exhibit and Interview: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- 2nd place Robotics Competition: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- BEST Middle School Team: Blackman Robotics
- Largest Improvement Award: Blackman Robotics
Overall BEST:
- 1st place: Stewarts Creek Robotics
- 3rd place: Blackman Robotics
- 8th place: Rock Springs Middle Robotics
- 10th place: Cougar Nation Robotics