With 3rd world title, Madera Unified team creates robotics competition dynasty
It came down to the final minute of game 3.
A robot made in Madera zoomed around, picking up plastic tubes and driving them toward a reef-like structure, where it placed the tubes over the reef’s arms to score points. On the other side of the field, its opponents matched its quickness as the two sides traded the lead April 19 in Houston, Texas, during the tie-breaking game of the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition championship series.
MadTown Robotics 1323, the Madera Unified high school team that created the robot, was coming off an almost-perfect 2025 season. In the title series, it played as part of an alliance that included teams from Washington and Indiana. Across the field from them stood an alliance of teams that included Orbit 1690, an Israeli crew that helped hand the Madera squad a devastating loss in last year’s championship contest.
“It was very much a comeback story,” MadTown team captain Areli Venegas told The Fresno Bee. “All we wanted to do was just be on top again and take the number one place back to Madera.”
When the final buzzer hit, the Madera team had secured its third championship at a competition that draws high schools from around the world.
The team has for years been known as a dominant robotics force in various regional contests in California, frequently besting teams from Bay Area, Southern California and Clovis schools. But after winning it all in 2019 and 2023, MadTown’s win this year has solidified the team’s place at the top of a high school robotics world championship dynasty.
“We even beat out Silicon Valley teams that are actually backed by major corporations, such as Google, Apple, Amazon,” Venegas said. “Even though they have the knowledge base out there, there’s always something that they’re missing.”
Vern Valmonte, a Madera Unified engineering teacher and the team’s adviser, said the secret to MadTown’s success is hard work and passion.
“These guys are the hardest-working kids on campus,” Valmonte said. “They live, breathe, eat robotics.”
‘Kept fighting on’
Last year’s heartbreaking loss to Israel’s Orbit team did not shake MadTown.
Instead, the Madera students came home with a renewed will to work harder.
“We decided we needed to take that loss and use it,” he said. “We wanted to make sure we used it as fuel.”
So, with the help of Valmonte and Coach Ranjit Chahal, the team designed, manufactured and assembled a different robot using state-of-the-art tools. MadTown members mapped out all the possible ways they could score points. Their plan was to build the strongest robot in their alliance — one that would ensure the team kept scoring when other robots couldn’t.
The team’s work ethic kept them glued to their robotics lab at Matilda Torres High School.
“We have to actually push them out the door and tell them to go home because, if not, they’ll stay here until midnight,” Valmonte said.
MadTown’s scouts sought out the best allies. Its pit crew maintained the robot between matches. And its drivers operated it better and better throughout the season.
But adversity struck in game 1 of the finals as the Madera robot suffered problems with its intakes, which help it grab pipes and balls needed to score. So, the Orbit alliance handed MadTown another loss in that game before the Madera students tied the series 1-1 in game 2.
In game 3, there was no room to think about losing, said Venegas, the team captain.
“We just kept fighting on,” she said, “We just stayed focused on the game that was in front of us and doing everything perfectly.”
Madera pride in robotics team
The day after capturing their world title, MadTown members arrived at Fresno International Airport to find their community waiting for them in the terminal.
“It felt really amazing because we put all of our hard work, not just for the school, not just for the district, but for the entire Madera County,” said Miguel Vargas, MadTown’s lead scout. “We couldn’t really do anything without their support.”
Proud parents shed tears of joy, Venegas said.
“They’re all super proud of everything that we’re able to do because, for them, they never had these opportunities that we do now,” she said.
Venegas, who is a senior, has accepted a mechanical contract that will allow her to work on U.S. Air Force jets after she graduates. She said she will seek her engineering degree after that.
Though the team is losing three seniors this year, it will have four next year. Venegas said she has a lot of hope that MadTown’s success will continue.
Thinking back to MadTown’s first championship in 2019, Valmonte said the team was projected to win back-to-back titles before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.
“But, who knows, maybe we’ll do it next year,” Valmonte said. “That’s our goal: Just continue building upon what we’ve done so far.”
