Southampton Robotics Team Wins First Regional Championship

Colin Heaney gripped his controller during the final match at Hofstra University, his team's future on the line. Three years ago, his school didn't even have a robotics program.

Last Saturday, the Southampton High School Marinators won first place at the FIRST Long Island Regional competition. The victory makes them eligible to compete at the World Championship in Texas next month, pending their official invitation.

The win seemed impossible at first. After three days of competition featuring 72 qualification matches against 50 teams, Southampton ranked 24th overall.

Then something unexpected happened. The top two teams, Kings Park and Southold, chose the Marinators as their alliance partner for the finals. These established programs saw something special in the young upstarts.

Colin, the team driver, and operator Anthony Bonilla played a nearly flawless defensive game. Their strategy during qualification rounds had already caught attention by avoiding penalty points while blocking opponents.

Team president Sarah Barros credits the entire 35-member crew. The group designed and built a robot that shoots balls into targets, retrieves them from the ground, and climbs to hang from a bar. Their third-year machine features vision sensors and moving components far beyond what they built as rookies.

The Ripple Effect

Dr. Melissa Mitchell pioneered Southampton's robotics program just three years ago in 2023. Her gamble on these students is already creating opportunities that didn't exist before.

The team spent countless hours building, testing, and refining under adviser Eric Pflug's guidance. These aren't just students learning to code anymore. They're engineers solving real problems under pressure.

Young programs typically struggle against teams with decades of institutional knowledge and resources. Southampton proved that fresh thinking and dedication can level the playing field faster than anyone expected.

Colin captured the surreal feeling perfectly. "Some of these teams have been around for like 30 years, so making it that far was really exciting."

Now these students wait for their invitation to represent Long Island on the world stage.