COVINGTON, Ky. -- Covington Catholic High School junior Paul Couch said his team prepared for months for the tournament, but Saturday's competition wasn’t just another sports matchup.
More than 100 students from across the region competed in game-based engineering challenges Saturday in Cov Cath’s 2nd annual Colonel Classics Robotics Tournament.
“We spent a lot of time building our robot, changing design, we've gone through a bunch of designs," Couch said.
There were plenty of designs to been seen at Saturday’s tournament; over 50 teams from Kentucky and Ohio participated in the event.
For junior Tyler Macknight, the tournament is the best of both worlds.
“It combines everything I've really been interested in my whole life, which is building things and testing them out," Macknight said.
Bob Lind, director of Technology and STEM Programs at Cov Cath, said the tournament is more valuable than the students realize.
“We're teaching kids how to think, we're teaching kids how to solve problems we're teaching kids how to work outside the box," Lind said.
Students from John Hardin High School in Hardin County, Kentucky won the tournament, and they will head to the state championships in Louisville.