Competitors raise their hands Friday to signify their first time participating in the 7th Annual Thomas Cup, during the event’s opening ceremony at Thomas College in Waterville. Students from Maine high schools compete in five challenges, focused on robotics, crime scene analysis, esports, innovation and cyber safety. The winning students have their names added to the Thomas Cup and receive scholarships worth up to $10,000 over four years. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — More than 100 high school students from across Maine gathered Friday at Thomas College in Waterville for the 7th Annual Thomas Cup, an overnight technology and innovation competition.

Teams of five students competed in five challenges, focused on robotics, crime scene analysis, esports, innovation and cyber safety.

The winning students have their names added to the Thomas Cup and receive scholarships worth up to $10,000 over four years.

This year’s competition included teams from Waterville Senior High School, Messalonskee High School in Oakland, Lewiston High School and the Mid-Maine Technical Center in Waterville.

The winning team: The Absolute Units, composed of Christopher Kusturin, Joseph Poissant, Abel Mitchell, Michael Osgood and Emmett Shea of the Baxter Academy for Technology and Science in Portland.

The second-place team — Winswood — had students from several schools, and the third-place team — nineteen eighty-four — included students from Watershed School of Camden.

Zachary Ferioli, 14, right, of Marshwood High School in South Berwick and other high school students get organized and set up computers Friday before competing in the 7th Annual Thomas Cup at Thomas College in Waterville.  Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

This year’s Thomas Cup tested students’ skills in the following ways:

• The robotics challenge had students program a robot to navigate an obstacle course and race against other teams.

• The esports challenge included a single-elimination League of Legends tournament.

• The crime scene analysis gave students a scenario where a disoriented driver was pulled over and bones were found inside his vehicle. Students then had to show how to question the man legally, process a possible crime scene, determine the bones’ source and speculate on what had occurred.

• The innovation challenge had students learn about simple propulsion and compete with projects they had built during the event.

• The cyber challenge had students learn about the latest cyberthreats, which they had to identify and show they could avoid.