Lake Area Tech drone team wins at national competition

Brookings' Hunter Jensen garners collegiate individual reserve champion honors and is part of first-place team

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WATERTOWN – Lake Area Technical College’s new drone team placed in both team and individual competitions at the inaugural Collegiate Drone Sports Championships held this summer at the Mall of America in Minneapolis. 

Lake Area Tech’s drone team includes Hunter Jensen a.k.a. “Jensen8333,” a professional fixed-wing pilot student from Brookings and Ethan Ingram a.k.a. “Stitches,” a robotics student from Mountain Home, Idaho.

The individual champion competition kicked off the collegiate races with six drone pilot representatives from the University of North Dakota, St. Cloud State, University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Lake Area Tech. Jensen earned collegiate individual reserve champion honors after completing multiple piloting heats.

Jensen and Ingram both earned top honors in the combined team champion competition as their team “The Empire” finished first. 

They were joined on the team by drone pilot representatives from Apple Valley High School, Minnesota; Tiny Turbines, Twin Cities, Minnesota; and Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering, Huntsville, Alabama.

The CDSC championships can be viewed at https://www.youthdronesports.org/blog/soaring-spring-2021-national-championships-results/.