The Melissa High School Robotics Team was named the State Champion in the Robot Competition and the State Runner-Up overall in the BEST Division at the 2025 UIL State Robotics Tournament. The East Cardinal Middle School Robotics team also competed at State, placing within the top 30 middle school robotics teams in the state. The UIL State Robotics Tournament was held December 10-13 at the Fair Park Coliseum in Dallas.
In the general robotics competition, they showcased their skills across multiple categories, including the engineering notebook, marketing presentation, marketing booth, robot design and driving, as well as spirit and sportsmanship.
Where our MHS robotics team soared was in the Robot Competition of the tournament, which is one of the most competitive components in the event and given standalone rankings. In this portion of the contest, teams are challenged to compete directly against other schools using robots they designed, built, and programmed. Teams are matched in timed rounds where robots must complete specific game objectives on a standardized field, earning points based on performance and accuracy. Scores from these matches contribute to each team’s overall tournament results while also determining placement in the standalone bracket. This portion of the competition highlights students’ engineering, programming, strategic thinking, and teamwork skills under real-time competitive conditions.
When reflecting on the season, Head Coach Rick Gagarin said, "This was an exciting year in robotics. We put in over 150 outside of school hours during the competition and 5000+ total work hours as a team, and it's nice to see their hard work pay off with a state championship!”
Coach Gagarin and all of the Melissa ISD engineering students would also like to thank the community during this time:
“The robotics teams and I would like to sincerely thank everyone who supported us throughout this season. I am grateful to our community members who stopped by to encourage us on the way to the Cotton Bowl and at the state competition, and to the teachers and coaches who provided flexibility, coverage, and transportation so our students could fully participate.
We also appreciate our bus drivers who transported and supported our teams throughout long competition days, our sponsors who have invested in the program over the past decade, and our administrators and school board for their ongoing support.
I would like to recognize several individuals who went above and beyond, including Mrs. Chapman, Mrs. Keen, Mr. Smith, Mr. Brenner, Mr. Lucious, the cheer sponsors, and Mrs. Wilson for their assistance and behind-the-scenes support.
Finally, I am grateful to the fellow robotics coaches who have helped me grow over the past ten years, to those who provided feedback on our marketing presentation, to the parents who supported our students every step of the way, and to the engineers who shared their expertise, including Joshua, Scott, and the Dallas BEST engineers. A special thank you goes to Engineer Keith Melcher for encouraging me to begin coaching robotics and for helping shape the program into what it is today.”
Congratulations to these exceptional students and the entire MHS & ECMS Robotics Teams on their outstanding performances. We’re excited to see what the future holds for these talented groups!
Overall UIL State Competition MHS Participants:
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
Overall UIL State Competition ECMS Participants:
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