York College of Pennsylvania’s League of Legends esports team recently won the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) Challengers National Championship.
The same team claimed a similar title for the Mideast Conference last fall. “NECC Nationals is similar to the title we won the first semester; however, it is on a much larger scale,” said Director of Esports Kyle Rosen.
NECC sections teams off into skill-based divisions: Legends, similar to NCAA Big 10 schools that offer full scholarships for esports; Champions and Challengers, similar to Division 1 schools; Emergents, similar to Division 2 schools; and Navigators, similar to Division 3 schools. York College competes in the Challengers Division. “In general, Challenger+ is considered extremely competitive,” said Rosen.
Next within each Division is Conferences, groups of 10 teams that compete for a conference title. “Winning a conference title alone is considered a large win for a college,” Rosen added.
Nationals take the top teams then from each conference throughout the year and place them into one large playoff stage, which starts with a group stage to determine a top-eight tournament. York College automatically qualified for this tournament, as it was considered the second place team, according to Rosen. “From there a traditional bracket of the top 8 played out. We finished our run going 6-1 and beating Assumption College, Florida Tech University, and Park University.”
York College’s team included Luke Nall, senior Computer Engineering major from Landenberg, Pa.; Isaac Yoka, junior Information Technology Management major from Mount Wolf, Pa.; Logan Reese, senior Mechanical Engineering major from Jackson, N.J.; Benjamin Reed, junior Finance major from Finksburg, Md.; and Roger Casado Sanchez, sophomore Psychology major from York.
