Southwest Kansas FLL Championship Draws OK, TX, KS Teams; Rolling Stones Advance

Dozens of elementary, middle and at least one high school team filled the Seward County Activity Center in Liberal Saturday for the Annual Southwest Region FIRST LEGO League Championship, hosted by the Liberal Recreation Department. KSCB News and The Ulysses News agreed on venue and format—morning presentations before judges, practice tables, afternoon table missions and an awards ceremony—but reported conflicting results about the overall champion and next steps for advancing teams.

KSCB News listed winners across multiple categories, naming Discord Kittens third, Trowel and Error second and the Rolling Stones first in Innovation, Robot Design and Core Values, and naming Kiowa Robo Warriors first in Robot Performance with Lego Lightning League second and Lego Waffles third. KSCB News concluded, "The Rolling Stones have earned the right to compete at Nationals in Houston Texas." KSCB also reported the event was sponsored by Golden Plains Credit Union, National Beef and Fastenal and that, "The theme for this years event was an Unearthed challenge."

By contrast, Nancy Wallace-Kletecka of The Ulysses News photographed teams and reported a different outcome: "An awards ceremony took place at the end of the afternoon and found the Hugoton, Kan., high school team - the Hugotron Cyber Squids taking home the overall championship trophy. They now qualify to travel to Daytona Beach, Fla., in June to compete in the First Lego League Florida Sunshine Invitational." The Ulysses News also named the Hugotron Sea Eagles as placing second in Innovation and second in Core Values, and identified teams from nearby Hugoton, Hooker, Okla., and Vilas, Colo.

Photographs credited to Nancy Wallace-Kletecka display Hooker, Okla., competitors and name individual students: "Members of the Lego Dinos team from Hooker, Okla. (left to right) Jet Anguiano, Stryker Wilson and Wallace Daugherty, discuss their efforts following one of the competitions as a judge, far right, finishes up paperwork from their critique." Another caption shows Aqua Builders members "Ulysses Viscarra and Connor Murphy" adjusting their robot during competition.

The two primary local outlets also conflict on the event date: KSCB News and an Original report place the championship Saturday, March 7, 2026, while The Ulysses News text and captions reference Saturday, March 1. Sources agree teams came from multiple states; KSCB and the Original report list Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas, while The Ulysses News explicitly includes Colorado among participating communities.

Because of these discrepancies, the official awards sheet, advancement confirmations and the final list of participating teams remain to be verified with event organizers. Verification items include the official event date, the complete awards and advancement roster, confirmation of which team or teams will travel to Houston or Daytona Beach and the final roster of teams from Hugoton, Hooker, Vilas and other towns. The Liberal Recreation Department hosted the event at the Seward County Activity Center and is the appropriate point of contact to confirm official results.

Regardless of which team advances, the regional championship put local students such as Jet Anguiano, Stryker Wilson, Wallace Daugherty, Ulysses Viscarra and Connor Murphy on a larger stage and highlighted sponsorship from Golden Plains Credit Union, National Beef and Fastenal in supporting STEM opportunities across Southwest Kansas and neighboring communities.