By Zach Spicer
Jackson County was represented by four teams at the 2026 Indiana Robotics State Championship on March 14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
In the VEX IQ elementary school competition, Z Engineers Team 1597Z from Jackson County Homeschool Robotics made it to the top 32 and placed 25th out of 124 teams. Team members are third grader Raychael Timberlake, fifth grader James Timberlake and sixth graders Micah McIntyre and Eli Nolan. They are coached by Diana Nolan and Amy Timberlake.
Raychael, James and Micah were on a team that went to state for the first time last year, and this was Eli’s first time going to state. They qualified based on winning the Teamwork Champion Award at a tournament Jan. 17 at Immanuel Lutheran School in Seymour.
The other county team in the elementary competition was RoboSaints Team 47220C from Lutheran Central School in Brownstown. They placed 92nd. Team members are sixth graders Kyler Briner, Vivian Henry, Theodore McKinley and Bryce Tormoehlen. They are coached by Andrea McKinley.
This was their first time going to state. They qualified based on winning the Robot Skills Award at the Jackson County tournament Feb. 14 at Immanuel.
The only county team in the VEX IQ middle school competition was Team 520D from Immanuel, which placed 51st out of 100 teams. Team members are sixth grader Bennett Easton, seventh graders Pierson Murphy, Elizabeth Scheiderer and Gabrian Wilkins and eighth grader Elijah Kamman. They are coached by Nick Moore.
This was Gabrian’s third time going to state, Elizabeth’s second and Bennett, Pierson and Elijah’s first. They qualified after winning the Robot Skills Award at the Jackson County tournament.
Finally, participating in the VEX V5 high school competition was Dynasty Team 31330D from Seymour High School. They placed 34th out of 64 teams. Team members are sophomore Kaeden Leonard and juniors Noah Chambers, Nikita Cox, Kellan Stanfield and Micah Yee. They are coached by Amy Jo Miller Kuzel.
This was Micah’s fourth time going to state, Noah’s third, Kaeden’s second and Nikita and Kellan’s first. They qualified after winning the Excellence Award at the Railroad Rumble tournament Feb. 14 hosted by SHS. That award is given to the top overall team and is the highest honor given out in VEX Robotics Competition.
More than 300 robotics teams competed in the state championship, which was hosted by TechPoint Youth for the last time before Indiana moves to a regional championship model for the 2026-27 season.
Since the launch of the State Robotics Initiative, Indiana has become a leader in competitive youth robotics, boasting more VEX IQ robot teams than any other state in the country. The initiative is an expansion of the successful Indianapolis workforce initiative started in 2012 by former Mayor Greg Ballard. In 2016, TechPoint opened a grant for Indiana elementary schools to remove the cost barrier associated with launching robotics programs.
Prior to the State Robotics Initiative, Indiana had 73 elementary, 156 middle school and 170 high school VEX teams. Now, the state has 952 elementary, 491 middle school and 237 high school VEX teams.
TechPoint Youth is the leader in STEM education efforts for Indiana and has been inspiring students through STEM programming since 2001. The organization believes youth should be equipped to address Indiana’s growing demand for a skilled workforce.
