By Sophia Baragatti
Twenty-four hours, one alliance, and a number nobody had touched before. At the Carolinas Premier Event, the first 24-hour endurance competition in FIRST Tech Challenge history, ITKAN's North Carolina teams set aside their individual banners and competed as one: Team 24064, ITKAN Janktastrophe.
The combined squad closed qualifications as the number one seed and posted a penalty-free 714, a world-record score, before carrying their alliance all the way to the championship finals as Alliance Captain.
The score made headlines, but the format is what made it possible. Across a full day and night of matches, students rotated through every job a team needs: strategy, scouting, programming, repairs, and match preparation, trading roles as the hours wore on so no single group ever ran out of steam. Pulling that off across several combined ITKAN teams takes real trust in whoever steps in next.
A number one seed, a world-record penalty-free 714, and a run all the way to the championship finals as Alliance Captain — Team 24064 turned a 24-hour endurance event into one of the standout performances in ITKAN history. Huge congratulations to the students, coaches, mentors, and parents behind ITKAN Janktastrophe's run at Carolinas.