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In its first season in the C-Star League Division 1, Ä¢¹½´«Ã½â€™s Esports club team captured the League of Legends championship at Dreamhack, held in Austin, Texas, considered the biggest tournament in North America history. Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ ended the season undefeated, with a 40-0 record.
Student-athletes Andrew “Cackgod� Smith, Cody “Walrus� Altman, Tony “Saskio� Chau, John “Papachau� Le, and Marko “Prototype� Sosnicki comprise the winning team. They defeated McMaster University – Canada in the championship round on Sunday, May 8. Earlier, they defeated the University of Waterloo – Canada. The best of three match-ups were held back to back, and involved a total of four consecutive hours of play.
“A big shout out to the players for putting the work all season long,� said Dan “Clerkie� Clerke, team coordinator. “It’s hard work to be a professional gamer and go to school. They put in 14 hours a day, practicing every spare minute.�
A group of faculty, staff and parents accompanied Ä¢¹½´«Ã½â€™s team to the grand finals, including Jarrett Fleming, coordinator of Athletics and Recreation.
“This is a huge boost for our growing club sports program, and we’re just getting started,� Fleming said. “Dan and the Esports team have worked hard to help build a successful program. Their championship really puts us on the map in Esports.�
“We’ve put in a lot of hard work setting up Esports at Ä¢¹½´«Ã½, and it feels great to finish up with the season with a championship,â€� Clerke said.
The tournament was broadcast online at , a website that caters specifically to the Esports industry covering the top players, tournaments, and leagues. The Esports industry is estimated to soon be a $1.9 billion worldwide endeavor.
Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ was one of the first schools in the country to offer scholarships for Esports.
Thank you of KSDK Newschannel 5 for dropping by and interviewing the team!
A few tweets from the big day:
Semifinal game 2 drafting is now complete, & we’re underway. Follow for more tweets
— Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ (@Ä¢¹½´«Ã½U)
Watching, anticipating, rooting the team on …
— Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ (@Ä¢¹½´«Ã½U)
40-0, and a national title! !!!!!
— Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ (@Ä¢¹½´«Ã½U)
Great games to and Waterloo! Great guys and competition!
— Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ eSports (@Ä¢¹½´«Ã½GG)
Victory dinner!
— Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Esports (@Ä¢¹½´«Ã½GG)
This story also featured in the Fall 2016 edition of Ä¢¹½´«Ã½ Magazine.
esports champs.H