**Yoselyn Ortega, Jesse Tran, and Cristina Zaldivar do a practice run in anticipation of the FIRST Robotics Championships in Texas. Photo by Alex Dominguez**

DOWNEY — Coming off of winning its first Regional in team history, Downey High School’s Striking Vikings FIRST Robotics team now has their eyes set on Championships.

Established in 2016, the Striking Vikings team is comprised of students who build, program, drive and compete robots against other student teams in themed games.

This year’s game is called “Crescendo,” and includes shooting, collecting, and climbing elements, as well as encourages cooperation between teams.

At the Utah Regional, held from Feb. 29 to March 2, things didn’t get off to the hottest start for the Vikings.

Despite anticipating a high ranking amongst the other teams, some early mistakes and technical setbacks left the Striking Vikings waiting in limbo, anxious to be selected to another team’s alliance to keep them alive in the competition. Only the top eight teams would be selected as Alliance captains, and would choose two teams from the remaining field to join them.

“That day actually started pretty bad because our lift had broken, and we needed stronger cable, so it was very stressful,” said junior Yoselyn Ortega, one of the team’s co-drivers. “We ended up coming in rank 17, so it was kind of underwhelming for all of us. But we were waiting desperately for alliance selection, and they decided to pick us, so we decided we’re back in.”

Downey was selected to compete with the Kraken and Angelbotics, both out of Colorado.

It would still be an uphill battle.

“Our first game we thought was going to be a solid win. It wasn’t, so we had to come back,” laughed Ortega. “Just coming back, we played hard, we played as best we could. I know our strategy changed from defense to offense.”

Ortega says the team did well because they disregarded some of the bigger names they were up against.

“We kind of just flew by, because we weren’t paying attention to who we were playing with, we were just kind of focused on how we were playing,” said Ortega.

After finding themselves in the loser’s bracket, the Striking Vikings and their alliance members were able to claw themselves up and through the rest of the competition, earning a spot in and ultimately winning the finals.

Senior Cristina Zaldivar called the victory “surreal.”

“Everybody was jumping up and down, tears started flowing,” said Zaldibar. “We see our team out in the stands, and they’re screaming, hugging each other.”

Along with being the team’s first, the regional win also qualifies the Striking Vikings for Championships, to be held April 17-20 in Houston, Texas. There, the Vikings will compete against hundreds of teams from not only across the nation, but around the world.

The Vikings have been only once before – during their rookie season on 2016 – when they qualified not as a regional winner, but as a “Rookie Allstar.”

Zaldibar says “it’s a huge deal.”

“Now, we’re a lot more competitive,” said Zaldibar.

Before making their way to Texas, however, the Striking Vikings will make a stop in Nevada for the Las Vegas Regional next week.

Senior programmer and driver Jesse Tran says the team is taking things “one step at a time.”

“Vegas first, we’ll see how that goes, hopefully we win that one too,” said Tran. “It’s going to be a little more difficult because there’s more competitive teams there.

“Houstin, I think we’ll do okay at, but obviously these are very advanced teams we’re going against in Houston. As a student-built team, I think it’s going to be a little more difficult for us.”

Tran added that many teams use their mentors and professionals to help build and pilot their teams professionally, though it’s a practice frowned upon personally by the Vikings.

Still, Downey teacher and mentor Glenn Yamasaki isn’t so worried about winning; in the long run, it’s the development of his students that counts.

“I have a couple [alumni] that are at Pomona and Long Beach, they come and help out, but also because of this, they’re over at Pomona working on the Formula F1 car and everything; as freshmen they got on those teams,” said Yamasaki. “That’s the goal, hearing stories like that, that’s a success for me.”

The Striking Vikings are currently in the midst of fundraising to send around 20 of their team (plus their robot) to Houston.

“The [Downey Unified School] District has pledged to support us for airfare and hotel, which is a huge cost and we’re super grateful for that,” said Yamasaki. “Still to get us there, it’s almost a $6,000 registration, and getting the robot there. So, if we can get somewhere between $12-15 [thousand], we think we’ll be in good shape.”

He says “We’ll get there.”

“The city has really stepped up too. We’ve had great sponsors. It’s a great community,” said Yamasaki. “The kids, they even bought an old popcorn machine, refurbished it, and it doesn’t sound like much but they’ll sell popcorn at $2 a bag, and they’re making $500 a day. We’ll get there, I have no worries about that.”

Downey High's Striking Vikings advance to national championships