Melissa ISD programs advanced to multiple state and national competitions during the 2025-2026 school year, making it an incredible year for our district and for the students who competed. From academics to athletics to fine arts, our students worked hard to represent Melissa ISD with excellence and talent.
This school year, students and teams from across the district competed in 30 different state and national-level competitions, 25 students and teams were named State Champions, and 14 others finished as State Runner-Ups.
Several programs continued their success at the national level. So far, 5 students and teams have advanced to nationals, with 1 national artworker winner already recognized. Additional national competitions are scheduled to take place this summer.
Congratulations to all of the seniors who advanced to state. You have left behind a legacy of achievement that will inspire future Cardinals.
This outstanding year reflects the strength and diversity of our programs and the determination of our students, coaches, and sponsors. Congratulations to all who advanced, competed, and represented Melissa ISD with pride!
Academic Programs at State & Nationals:
MHS AV Production (Coached by Quelonn Lucious):
The Student Film: Writer and Director Zella Clark
Student Credits: Mitchell Warner, Muhammad Rahman, Casey Sta Maria, George Tucker, Liam Rutledge, Christian Spresley, Boston Scadden, Supreet Sudharshana, Abdullah Sowe
MHS DAR Essay Contest
Karunya Thirumalasetty, Vanshika Pathani, & Viswa Sai Tej Pamidi
MHS Debate Cross-Examination (Coached by Brenden Dimmig)
Ruby Terry - State’s Top Speaker
Lauren Nager and Ruby Terry
Hayden Maynard & Manya Kaushik
MHS DECA (Coached by Philip & Brooke Pendleton)
Automotive Services Marketing Series: Pranad Arcot
Business Service Operations Research: Aashritha Nerella & Sheetal Kiran
Hospitality & Tourism Operations Research: Noah Pendleton, Parin Mandya Raghavendra, & Lillian Nabors
Hotel & Lodging Management Series: Akshay Mootakoduru
Innovation Plan:
Ayan Bhardwaj, Sholk Chaubey, & Suvan Vajjaha
Vanshika Pathani & Pramath Mandya Raghavendra
Sai Anjali Kallakuri, Sai Rishi Kancharlapalli
Sarthak Sharma
Finance Operations Research: Anika Numburi
Principles of Business Management & Administration: Viswa Sai Tej Pamidi
Principals of Finance: Naghul Annadurai
Sports Entertainment Marketing Series: Sam Dixon
Sports & Entertainment Marketing Series: Chloe McGee
Sports & Entertainment Operations Research: Kayla Casanova & Anvi Gupta
MHS FCCLA (Coached by Amy Klein, Shanna Hobbs, Annika Harmsen, & Catherine Harris)
Fashion Construction - Level 2:
Mia Jones
Sarah Dehoog
Nutrition & Wellness - Level 2: Olivia Josey
Repurpose & Redesign - Level 3: Liza Cox, Ava Hargis, Emily Madonna, & Elsa Lawson-Dotson
Texas Toy Design - Level 2: Obaye Isah, Sara Kabugu, & Leslie Mwang
Texas Toy Design - Level 3: Kaitlyn Keo & Navya Patil
MHS Robotics (Coached by Rick Gagarin) - State Champion Robot & State Runner-Up Team
Alisha Akhare, Enzo Angod, Naghul Annadurai, Pranad Arcot, Naman Avala, Tanush Avula, Nursultan Baktiiarov, Uday Tej Bhumana, Levi Brem, Rida Bulsari, Jacob Cardenas, Shlok Chaubey, Hanshal Cheruku, Ronin Craven, Shivashish Dahal, Ahmed Dawood, Anirbed Dutta, Siddhant Gangwar, Aryan Gavalli, Sahiti Geesa, Nathan Goodman, Karthikeya Govindaraju, Dhanvi Gupta, Neil Gupta, Ahmad Hamdani, Sameen Hamdani, Hemanth Harikrishnan, Brennen Hayes, Sophia Helton, Ruben Ibarra, Hayden Impastato, Ishaan Kalyanshetti, Sai Kancharlapalli, Yasmina Khozha-Akhmedova, Sri Charan Komarneni, Kartikeya Kondapalli, Chethan Kothilla, Sankarshan Kulkarni, Sai Sowmith Lagisetti, Parin Mandya Raghavendra, Pramath Mandya Raghavendra, Anthony Montalta, Liam Montalta, Kanisha Kavitha Muthukumar, Jackson Nichols, Sai Ram Pasupunuri, Vanshika Pathani, Aarav Phutane, Prathiksha Prashanth, Samiksha Prashanth, Sanyuri Puri, Naga Venkata Sai Sushmitha Puvvula, Ian Quinones, Prajwal Saha, Mayukh Sarkar, Mason Schuble, Sandeep Seereddy, Riyanshika Sharma, Srinika Sivakumar, Supreet Sudharshana, Harini Sunil, Nahom Tadiyos, Ruchir Taduri, Karunya Thirumalasetty, Aneesh Thoram, Norman Tran, Hayden Travis, Bryan Tyrrell, Sai Vajjaha, Gautham Valavala, Yiran Wei
ECMS Robotics:
Oviya Balaguru Anbumani, Mahati Balaji Kalpana, Rayyan Bulsari, Riya Bura, Lalana Chamata, Vedanshi Chanda, Yatika Chiliveri, Shourya Gautam, Krish Guda, Sai Akshay Kallakuri, Siddharth Karthikeyan, Sudarshan Kulkarni, Sanika Menon, Avani Neb, Nehasri Pilla, Suhrit Ramachandrula, Anusha Sawhney, Kamalesh Senthilkumar, Amrithaa Sunil Nataraj Radha, Anshica Sunil Nataraj Radha, Adarsh Suroju, Ye Yang, Charishma Yeso
MHS SkillsUSA
Entrepreneurship Team - State Champions & National Qualifiers: Pranad Arcot, Shlok Chaubey, Sai Venkata Sri Suvan Vajjaha, Ayan Bhardwaj
Technical Computer Applications - State Champion & National Qualifier: Hannah Gil
Applied Engineering: Mehedi Lamim, Chethan Kothilla, Shavashish Dahal, Radha Ruchir Taduri
Applied Engineering Team: Supreet Sudharshana, Isaiah Perez, Liam Montalta, Sri Charan Komarneni
Career Pathway-Business Management: Pranil Thatvarthy, Naghul Annadurai, Shivashish Dahal
Community Action Project: Sameen Hamdani & Parin Raghavendra
Cybersecurity: Kanisha Kavitha & Anthony Montalta
Engineering Related Design:
Pranad Arcot, Suvan Vajjaha, & Sankarshan Kulkarni
Sushmitha Puvvula, Sanyuri Puri, Tanush Avula, & Aneesh Thoram
Engineering Technology: Sri Charan Komarneni, Supreet Sudharshana, & Tanush Avula
Extemporaneous Speaking: Hannah Gil
Health Occupations Portfolio: Sameen Hamdani
Information Technology Quiz Bowl: Nathan Goodman, Anthony Montalta, Sebastian Quintana, Sushmitha Puvvula, Sanyuri Puri, & Kanisha Kavitha
Innovative Design: Naghul Annadurai & Radha Ruchir Taduri
Medical Assisting: Tanush Avula
Pin Design: Sai Anjali Kallakuri
Principals of Engineering: Ishaan Kalyanshetti
Real Estate Design:
Parin Raghavendra - Best in Show
Pranil Thatavarthy
Related Technical Math: Aneesh Thoram, Sai Rishi Kancharlapalli
MHS UIL Academics (Coached by Brenden Dimmig & Aubrey Lee)
Speech Team
Persuasive Speaking: Pradnya Chakka - State Runner-Up, Tanya Parshanth
Prose Interpretation: Paden Davidson
Athletic Programs at State:
MHS Bass Fishing
Colton Robinson and Nate Bodnar
Billy Parengkuan and Nash Marshall
MHS Cheerleading (Coached by Alex Whorton, Kaitlyn Brooks, Lori Allen, & Lexi Fields)
National Cheer Association Competition - Advanced to Nationals
UIL Spirit State
MHS Cross Country (Coached by Zach Hernandez)
Diem Casselberry
Grace Vuong
MHS Football - State Semi-Finalists
MHS Powerlifting
Girls Powerlifting (Coached by Travis Pickup):
Malia Griffin
Olivianna Robertson
MHS Special Olympic Cheerleading (Coached by Crystal Phillips) - State Champions
Jayla Bennett, Lilly Della, Nevaeh Moothart, Savannah Moothart, Jian Morales, Viola Pirillo, Emmy Ruiz, Nathan Tan, Logan Vega, Antanique White, Grace Wood, Taylor Young
MHS Special Olympic Track & Field (Coached by Crystal Phillips)
50m Dash
Sean Barnes - Division 10, State Champion
Jacob Byrnes - Division 13, State Champion
Cooper Lippman - Division 18, State Champion
Grace Wood - Division 3, State Champion Runner-Up
Aidan Howard - Division 14
Emmy Ruiz - Division 7
Ethan Umeh - Division 8
Kenneth Kim - Division 8
100m Dash
Viola Pirillo - Division 10, State Champion
Lilly Della - Division 3, State Champion Runner-Up
Taylor Young - Division 8, State Champion Runner-Up
Savannah Moothart - Division 8
Antanique White - Division 7
Aayushmaan Jaiswal - Division 21
Nathan Tan - Division 25
Nevaeh Moothart - Division 10
Jian Morales - Division 20
200m Dash
Tamiriana White - Division 1, State Champion
400m Dash
Markus Covey - Division 4
25m Walk
Jayla Bennett - Division 1, State Champion
100m Walk
Logan Vega - Division 2, State Champion
4x100m Relay
Savannah Moonthart, Nevaeh Moothart, Antanique White, & Tamitiana White - Division 1, State Champions
Lilly Della, Viola Pirillo, Emmy Ruiz, & Grace Wood - Division 2, State Runner-Up
Running Long Jump
Tamiriana White - Division 2, State Champion
Antanique White - Division 5, State Champion
Markus Covey - Division 8, State Champion Runner-Up
Softball Throw
Viola Pirillo - Division 10, State Champion
Emmy Ruiz - Division 7, State Champion Runner-Up
Grace Wood - Division 1
Ethan Umeh - Division 9
Lilly Della - Division 2
Kenneth Kim - Division 6
Nathan Tan - Division 18
Sean Barnes - Division 21
Cooper Lippman - Division 18
Savannah Moothart - Division 10
Nevaeh Moothart - Division 10
Jian Morales - Division 17
Logan Vega - Division 18
Taylor Young - Division 8
Tennis Ball Throw
Jacob Byrnes - Division 6, State Champion
Javelin Throw
Aayushmaan Jasiwal - Division 6
MHS Softball Team (Coached by Cassie Crabree) - State Semi-Finalists
MHS Swim
100-Yard Breaststroke: Maxim Smirnov
MHS Track & Field (Coached by Zach Hernandez)
Girls 4x200M Relay Team: Khobi Branch, Haven Scott, Hikmah Abdul Hameed, and Kennedy Branch - State Champion Runner-Ups
Girls 100M Dash: Kennedy Branch
MHS Wrestling
Boys Wrestling - State Champions (Coached by Oliver Pierce, Todd Wycoff, Mason Pierce, & Stone Drulman):
Vinny Ferrari - State Champion
Maddox Fields - State Champion
Jaxon Johnson - State Runner-Up
Kiron Neves - State Runner-Up
Connor Surrette - State Runner-Up
Fox Foster
Johny Lastinger
Ray Ndanzia
Gunner Lund
Girls Wrestling - State Champion Runner-Ups (Coached by Rick Gagarin & Stone Drulman):
Malia Griffin - State Champion
Mary Griffin - State Runner-Up
Scarlet Hillis
Payten Gutierrez
Kay Ndanzia
Tessa Tighe
Khadijah Kamara
Josslyn Lawton
Maddy James
Mackenzy McClure
Fine Arts Programs at State & Nationals:
MHS Art (Directed by Diana Ortiz)
VASE Art Competition: Sophia Helton & Prajwal Saha
Academic Language Therapy Association Artwork Winner: Minsa Asim
MHS Band (Directed by Kevin McNulty, Zac Robason, David Landry, Michelle Hanegan, Christopher McHenry, & Marli Dority)
All-State Band: Madison Fulenchek
Solo & Ensemble: Pranad Arcot, Haiden Barnes, Arthur Beltre, Tyler Borra, Jacob Burns, Diego Ceron-Valdez, Ronnie Chidzungu, Camryn Crowder, Abel Cruz-Vinueza, Allen Cruz-Vinueza, Danyell Daniels, Aiden Ferguson, Madison Fulenchek, Archishman Ganguly, Hannah Gil, Isaac Gil, Caleb Glory, Camden Goode, Nathan Goodman, Zane Griffith, Ace Gustaveson, Hayden Hadnot, Camellia Huynh, Nathan Huynh, Hayden Impastato, Bradley Kembero, Rylan Kidd, Max Klimov, Jonah Lanz, Ransom Lewellen, Meadow Manzano, Derek Marcussen, Kendall McBrayer, Brayden McHenry, London Moffett, Emmanuel Obianke, Hudson Palmer, Wyatt Parker, Seth Paul, Ira Pawar, Sayuri Quintanilla-Torres, Gavin Reeves, Ethan Robason, Steven Rodriguez, Nick Saenz, Cesar Sanchez, Jaycob Sanchez, Joshua Shemwell, Emma Smith, Nahom Tadiyos, Addison Thomas, John Travis, Hayden Travis, Nayana Vemuri, & William Weimer
MHS Choir
Solo & Ensemble State:
Soloists: Rylan Kidd, Brady Stauffer, Vanessa Bruno, Mahima Bathula, Robin Davis, Laasya Pappu, Bella Harvey, McKenzie Henry, Cambry Quintana, Annabelle Knapp, Arleigh Reynolds, Layna Covey, Sophia Martinez, Sadie Williams, Bradley Kembero, Navya Patil, Jackson Batista
MHS Dance (Directed by Joanna Ingram):
Centennial Crowd Pleasers Dance State Champions
MHS Theatre (Directed by Megan Moore, Kyle Brenner, & Aubrey Lee):
Theatrical Design, Hair & Makeup: Rayne Jackson & Gabby Keith
Theatrical Design, Costuming: Elsa Lawson-Dotson
MHS Winter Guard (Directed by Clay Singletary):
WGI World Top 20
NTCA State Champions