Seven teams from area middle schools brought home some hardware, and one will advance to nationals, after participating in a city-building competition in Manhattan.

For the second-consecutive year, a team from Southwest Middle School will head to the national Future City Competition in Washington, D.C. Feb. 13 after finishing in first place. Students had to build a virtual city using software from the SimCity video game series and provide a 3-D model at the regional.

The team from Southwest is made of 13 eighth-graders: Andrew Anderson, Annika Syverson, Christina Lee, Claire Feddema, Dane Reinsch, Emily Guo, Ethan Anderson, Jacob Lehrman, Jared Cote, Justin Lee, Lucy Zuo, Nora Agah and Ted Shi. The team is sponsored by Dani Lotton-Barker. 

Sixty-two teams from 39 schools participated at the Great Plains Regional Future City Competition on Jan. 24. There were seven other Lawrence-area teams to compete:

• Southwest’s seventh-grade team won the Building a World of Difference Award. The team consisted of seventh-graders Aaron Fowler, Alexus Robb, Avery Harrington, Banner Williams, Bowen Boyack, Charlie Johnson, Chloe Frazier, Eli Loney, Elliott Whisenant, Jack Benkelman, John Loos, Keaton Hoy, Patrick Keating, Peyton Mallory, Rheanne Walton and Spencer Hughes. The team was sponsored by Lotton-Barker.

• St. John Catholic School had two teams. Sixth-graders Connor Ireland, Paige Helt and Elsa Fair won the Team Award, sponsored by the Society of American Military Engineers Presenters.

• Another St. John team of sixth-graders also competed: Max Cast, Harriette Perkins and Oscar Schmidt. The teams were sponsored by teachers Megan Fairchild, Lee Ann Hartwick and Jessica Dunn, as well as Kevin Doyle of Black and Veatch. 

• Eudora Middle School’s team placed fourth at the regional. The team consisted of eighth-graders Jayden Pierce, Bobby Lounsbury, Colton Shrum, Taylor Schmidt and Wrigley Heide; seventh-graders Emily Howard and Kjersten Inskeep; and sixth-graders Rachel Pratt, Grace Schieferecke, Brooke McNorton, Danny Campbell, Colby Lawhorn and Matthew Karten. The team was sponsored by Julie Pierce, of Henderson Engineers, Inc.

• Liberty Memorial Central’s seventh-grade team won a $200 technology grant and the Most Holistic Approach Award. The team consisted of Morgan Hunt, Finley Amick, Freddy Comparato, Connor Harmon, Maksim Smith, Isaac White and Nicholai Jost-Epp. It was sponsored by Devin Heath. 

• Liberty Memorial Central’s sixth-grade team won the Transportation Infrastructure Award. The team consisted of Cole Huang, Salvador Good, Isaac Seybold, Finn Strong, Guthrie Bricker, Zora Lotton-Barker, River Foster, Evan Liakos and Shiloh Catterton. The team was sponsored by Kelly Catterton.

• West Middle School’s seventh-grade team won a Transportation of Sustenance award. The team consisted of Margaret McPherson, Greta Hayden, Isaac Jacobs, Niels Braaten, Degan Kaczor, Liam McKinney and Matthew Brandenburger. The team was sponsored by Charla Jerome.