A team of students from Santa Cruz County high schools won first place at an international underwater robotics competition last weekend.

The 21-member Hephaestus Robotics team on Saturday edged out 46 other teams from 13 countries within the Marine Advanced Technology Education Remotely Operated Vehicles Competition’s Ranger class. This year’s title is a first for the team, which previously won third place at the same competition in 2024 and 2025.

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A Stanford University student with interests in investigative and data journalism, Kayla is particularly interested in criminal justice reporting and uncovering compelling human stories through deep research.