Congratulations to the Heights Lego Robotics Team Jurassic Spark, winner of this weekend’s Robot Performance Award at the 2026 FIRST LEGO League Challenge. The New Mexico State Championship took place on Saturday, February 14, at Menaul School in Albuquerque.
The competition was incredibly close. Jurassic Spark earned 255 points, just edging out the Semi-Ruthful Pidgeonbots and the Camino Real WiredCats, who both scored 250 points.
This victory follows an exciting showing at the FLL Regional Tournament hosted at Heights Middle School in January. Five Heights teams competed alongside teams from Albuquerque, Shiprock, and Sacred Heart. During the tournament, students built and programmed robots to complete mission challenges and presented innovative research projects to a panel of judges.
At regionals, Jurassic Spark received the Champions Award for Best Overall Performance. Team Gold Diggers earned the Robot Performance Award for their outstanding robot design and programming.
Congratulations to Jurassic Spark team members: Alina Bonilla, Kyson Velarde, Ila Foster, Taeo Benally, Preston Gobble, Mason Cassels, JJ Shelton, and Vincent Waldroup.
We also celebrate our other amazing teams:
Team Gold Diggers: Gracie Prado, Colin Nakai, Jacob Ferrier, and David Westbrook
Team Blue and Ancient Capybara Jedis, Honorable Mention: Ava Hubbell, Morianna Tsosie, and Orion Cunningham
Team Ancient People, Rookie Team: Lucian Rios, Tristen Ellison, and Trystan Taylor
A Very Special Thanks
A very special thank you to Ms. Grace McFarland, STEM teacher at Heights, for organizing the regional tournament and guiding our teams every step of the way. Because of her dedication, our students had the opportunity to compete at regionals and advance to the state level.
Ms. McFarland worked closely with students as they built, coded, and tested their robots for the mission challenges. She also supported them as they researched a global problem, created an innovative approach to solving it, and made presentation boards to show what they had learned and developed with judges. In addition, she raised funds so every team had the resources needed to participate and succeed.
FMS, FIRST LEGO League, is about so much more than building and coding. It encourages creativity, teamwork, problem-solving, and respect for others while inspiring students to explore science, technology, engineering, and math in meaningful ways.
We are so proud of all our Knights. Nice work!