Pictured are the Hugotrons with their VEX V5 trophy for the Judges Award. Team members from left to right are Brendan Gill, Raymond Lamatsch, Matisyn Newmon, Paitan Schobert, Sophie Tower and Caitlyn Johnson. Photo courtesy of Mariette Gerber.
November 22, the Hugoton High School Hugotrons robotics team participated in their first VEX V5 tournament for the 2025-2026 VEX Push Back season. It was the Turkey Day Tango VEX V5 tournament hosted by High School in Tahlequah, Ok.
At the start of the competition, all teams had to pass an inspection to determine that they were within VEX specifications. Then, teams competed in eight qualification rounds. Four teams are paired up into a red alliance or a blue alliance, resulting in four robots on two teams to compete in each round. Then, they are given 15 seconds to autonomously score points. Once the autonomous points are tallied, then the alliances have one minute, 45 seconds to score as many points as possible. The Hugotrons won four of their eight qualification matches. Then, they lost in the first elimination round. Overall, the team ended with a rank of sixth out of 16 teams. The team also competed in a driving skills match, engineering notebook judging, and team interviews.
The Hugotrons received a trophy for the Judges Award. This award is required to be given at VEX events to a team that demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, professionalism, and perseverance. The team was extremely happy with their results since this was the first VEX tournament that a Hugoton team has been in. They are very excited to use this experience to prepare more effectively for their upcoming spring tournaments. Team
members included: Brendan Gill, Caitlyn Johnson, Raymond Lamatsch, Matisyn Newmon, Paitan Schobert and Sophie Tower.
Mariette Gerber and Kalinda Wight were their coaches.