Vaughn College’s Robotics Club finished Thursday’s first day of the Vex Robotics College Championship in position to qualify for Saturday’s elimination round. Vaughn finished in 25th place of the 47 schools competing, only one spot removed from the elimination round.

Vaughn finished competition Thursday (April 19) with one win and two close losses. It was defeated in its first match, against New York Institute of Technology, but rebounded to defeat Eniac Challengers College of Brazil later.

“I was less nervous this time,” Vaughn’s Wolfgang Segovia said after defeating Eniac. “It was my first time driving earlier.”

The final match pitted Vaughn against Universidad Technologica of Morelia, Mexico, which won a close contest.

Vaughn will compete in five matches on Friday. Team members planned to make some refinements to their robots on Thursday night. “We’ll work all night if we have to,” Michael Wroblewski said.

Additional details can be found here.