Hawai'i schools excelled today before a crowd of 20,000 at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in Atlanta, Ga. Among those spectators at the two-day event was Gov. Linda Lingle.

On the final day, Waialua High School, one of six Hawai'i teams at the competition, was presented with the second-highest award of the event, the FIRST Engineering Inspiration Award.

"It only awarded to only one team in the whole country," said Lingle, following the presentation. "It's been so gratifying to watch. You could just see from when the kids began this — through our regional and then this — their level of confidence in their ability to achieve difficult things has just shot up."

McKinley High School's Team Kika Mana came in fourth in their 84-team division, advancing to the semifinals, where they competed in two final rounds before finally being eliminated.

In addition to Waialua and McKinley, four other teams from the state — Honoka'a, Radford, Waiakea and Sacred Hearts Academy — competed against 337 other teams from the United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and Israel.