CHEYENNE, WY – Regional postseason play saw mixed results from the Laramie County Community College esports team as only the Rainbow 6: Siege team advanced to the national tournaments in the Premier Series.
The Rainbows 6 team made quick work of their opponents in the regional championship, dispatching Wichita State Tech in straight matches with a pair of matching 7-2 victories, led along the way by a 24 kill performance from Justin Cherubin and a double double from Leondro Ebell.
They followed the win in the semifinals with a dominant victory over Hawkeye Community College with a pair of 7-1 wins in the championship match to win the top seed from the Central Region in the national championships. They will compete on Friday night at 6:00 pm when they face off with Beville State Community College. Beville State is the second seed from the East Region after they fell to top seeded Lackawanna Community College.
Other postseason action saw deep runs by a pair of Golden Eagles in Mario Kart 8, but both Jesse Wardle and Dylan Langhoff were eliminated before qualifying for the final six spots in the national tournament field.
Langhoff, playing in the Central 2 Region, earned a first round by but fell to Iowa Western’s “Bones” in his first match. He fought through the loser’s bracket with wins over Missouri State University – West Plains and Danville Area Community College but in the loser’s bracket championship match, he ran into top seeded Marshaltown and fell 4-0 to be eliminated from the field.
Wardle was in a very competitive region in the Central 1 Region where he finished as the third overall seed after a four-way tie at the top of the standings with all competitors at 12-2 overall.
He came out of the opening round with a convincing 4-1 win over Rose State College but ran into Southeast Community College and “Jigglyboi” who sent him to the loser’s bracket with a 4-1 win.
Wardle had a tough draw with the fourth seeded “DC” from Danville Area Community College and in a heated match came up just short in a 4-3 loss that went the distance in the best of sevens, ending the chance at back-to-back titles for Wardle.
Call of Duty: Warzone also made it into the postseason field and after picking up the fourth seed, they faced off with Dallas College – North Lake in the opening round. The team of Isiaha Ahrens and Tyler Soffe found themselves down early in the match with a 2-0 hole after North Lake picked up 3-2 and 11-6 wins in the kill races.
LCCC bounced back with a 14-10 win in the third game, but didn’t have enough steam to force a fifth round, falling 9-6 in the final go and 3-1 in the best of five match. Ahrens finished with 20 kills to lead all gamers in the match.
The LCCC Fortnite team also made it into the postseason field and gave the top seeded Eastern Wyoming College duo a fight, forcing the match to a fifth game.
The Golden Eagles won games two (8-5) and four (3-1) while the Lancers picked up wins in games one (5-2) and three (0-7) and in a very tight final game the Lancers earned the tie breaker with the last person alive for a 3-3 final score and win.
National postseason play kicks off this week for the Golden Eagles with three competitors and teams still in action.
Rainbow 6 will be the highlight, but LCCC also has two Mario Kart athletes in the Contenders Series, formerly known as Tier 2, and will look to see success from both AJ Price, who is the third overall seed, and Gavin Thornnock who just made it into the postseason field as the 15 seed.
Action for Mario Kart begins on Thursday at 4:00 pm while Rainbow 6 gets going at 6:00 pm on Friday.
For more information on the schedule, please visit www.golccc.com. All matches are played in the Merrell Student Activity Lounge in Gold Hall and can be streamed on the LCCC Esports Twitch account.