Students Compete in Esports Contest; Second Qualifying Contest at Northwestern Nov. 10

November 8, 2022

Evan Vaverka (seated in center) is surrounded by middle and high school students recently competing in a regional qualifier for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate in the Northwestern Esports arena. Another qualifier will take place on campus on Nov. 10.

More than 100 students and their sponsors were on the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Alva campus recently to compete in an Oklahoma Scholastic Esports (OKSE) regional qualifier for Super Smash Brothers Ultimate. The Northwestern Esports team will play host to another Super Smash Brothers qualifier contest for high school and middle school students on Nov. 10 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Esports Arena in Shockley Hall.

"I feel like our first event of this scale went great,” Evan Vaverka, instructor of computer science and Northwestern esports coach, said. “It means a lot to me to host something like this because I would have loved to do it myself when I was younger. I think it means a lot for Northwestern as well because it can show prospective students that we have esports here and have a fun time.”

Super Smash Brothers qualifying contests continue all year. At the end of March, there will be a playoff to reduce the qualifiers for this game and others down to 32, and they will move on to the spring state championships.

A fall state championship contest for several other esports games will take place in Clinton on Dec. 16-17 for qualifiers in Fortnite Zone Wars, Rocket League, Halo, Call of Duty: Vanguard, Paladins, Rainbow Six Siege, Madden 23 and WWE2K22 where the high school and middle school students can win custom trophies for the state champions and runners-up along with custom medals for first, second and third place winners. The spring state championship for all games including Super Smash Brothers will be on March 31 and April 1.

The students who placed first in the Northwestern contest and qualify to move on to the December qualifying tournament are Jake Evans from Laverne High School and Noah Recindez from Clinton Middle School.

High school students also placing are Jorge Martinez from Guymon, second; and Brandon Contreras from Watonga, third.

Middle school students also placing are Gavin Irving from Taloga, second; and Cooper Welton from Watonga, third.

Brian Morris, founder and executive director of OKSE, noted that this organization’s focus from day one has been students first, and they have brought in several partners from many Oklahoma colleges and universities including Northwestern, as well as sponsors from the esports world, too.

“We have a plethora of partners and experiences that translate to student success, academic growth, increased attendance and a true path to industry,” Morris said.

Morris thanked the Northwestern esports team for playing host to these regional qualifiers and also noted that he is particularly proud of the fact that as an esports coach at Canute High School, two of his former students, Tio Mendez and Bill Shelton, earned esports scholarships to attend Northwestern.

"Tio and Bill have been great additions to our teams and program,” Vaverka said. “They continue to grow as players and will be a big part of the future.”

Vaverka said for students to earn a scholarship for esports at Northwestern, students must show they are committed to helping the program grow and to practice/play their respective games, in balance with succeeding at classwork.

There are plans to host another large event in February for middle/high schools and continue with a few smaller ones throughout the rest of the school year for college students on campus and local students not in college.

Anyone interested in esports at Northwestern can contact Vaverka at epvaverka@nwosu.edu or esports@nwosu.edu. More about Northwestern’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science is available at www.nwosu.edu/school-of-arts-and-sciences/math-and-computer-science.

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