On May 6, the University of Montana Grizzly Esports team scored its first national championship at the National Esports Collegiate Conference competition.
"This is the first time in the history of our program we had a top win at the national level," UM esports assistant director Cale Patenaude said in a press release. "Our team went undefeated during the regular season and then in the NECC West Conference playoffs. They were then selected for nationals based on that performance -- and our guys just kept winning."
NECC runs competitions for 500 colleges.
The five-member squad took on other schools in League of Legends, a real-time strategy game that recently reached a wider audience through its award-winning spinoff show "Arcane."
One difference between esports players and other sports players is that they don't have to travel -- the team was able to play from the UC, streaming their match on the UM esports Twitch channel.
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Grizzly Esports launched in 2019 and now has 120 students on its roster across various games, according to the release. It also offers $1,000 scholarships to 50 students each year.
"This win is really special because it shows the work we put into the program, our players and our community can turn out results like winning a national title," Patenaude said in the release.
The members of the national champion team, who hail from across Montana, are:
* Andrew "MrPredator" Dinh, a freshman in music education from Great Falls.
* Dean "ReplayDK" Klakken III, a senior in game design and interactive media from Florence and the team captain.
* Dylan "OGRE RI GAP" Nguyen, a freshman (undeclared) from East Helena.
* Logan "UMT Dapuppy" Richardson, a junior in human biological sciences from Pleasanton, California.
* Jace "Krauuuunk" Thomas, a sophomore in psychology and pre-law from Bozeman.
Andy Tallman is the criminal justice reporter for the Missoulian.
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