The fall season was another success story for the Madison College Esports teams, including a third-straight NJCAAE national championship in the Valorant competition. The WolfPack also earned a national runner-up finish in Rocket League and a final four appearance in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Madison College’s win in the Valorant competition was its ninth NJCAAE national championship in the program’s ninth semester of existence.
“This past season exceeded our expectations of what we could achieve after half of our roster graduated last spring,” coach Joe Hanson was quoted as saying on the athletic department website. “The dedication and competitive mindset of our team is what made this season so remarkable.”
“Each team roster has a story to be told, but our Valorant team not only won their third consecutive championship, but has remained undefeated during those three seasons as well. This team is never content with their historic run and are already looking forward to running it back again this spring,” Hanson added.
The national champion Valorant team featured Sean Lahey, Ethan Hanson, Bhim Gurung, Tyler Beyer, Nicholas Patterson, Noah Nedbalek, Blake Thurston, Aidan Wenzel and Jaewon Lim.
They went undefeated throughout the regular season, posting a 7-0 record and entered the national tournament as the No. 1 seed. After posting 2-1 victories over Centralia College and Catawba Valley College, the WolfPack defeated Montgomery County Community College, 3-1, in a best-of-five championship.
Madison College’s fielded two Rocket League teams this season. Team 1 competed in the Premier Series and posted a 10-2 record in the regular season. The team of Alexander Krueger, Robert Saltzman, Matthew Suhr and Jalen Wilson were the No. 3 seed in the Premier Series tournament, but posted one win and two losses in tournament play.
Team 2 of Ethan Transue, Noah Freeman and Ethan Hanson competed in the Contender Series, where they posted a 6-2 regular season record. In the Contender Series tournament, they lost their first event and fought back through the elimination bracket to finish as national runner-up.
Connor Mayhew, Samuel Wang and Celeste House competed as individuals in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Mayhew finished the NJCAAE regular season with a record of 5-2 and was the tournament’s No. 8 seed. Mayhew went 6-2 in the tournament an reached the quarterfinals before bowing out.