Kudos to the Wayne County High School Esports Team for making it to the final four in the tournament
A big applause to the Esports Team of WCHS who successfully reached the semi-final of the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe in the KHSAA Esports Spring State Championship of the 2023-24 season. The group of six made a trip to University of Kentucky to participate in the esteemed final-four face-off.
Over 100 student-athletes from around 20 schools convened for the semifinal and final matches, which included the games – Rocket League (PC), League of Legends (PC), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch), Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo Switch), Madden NGL 24 (PlayStation 4), and the first-ever semifinal and final fights of Splatoon 3 (Nintendo Switch) and NBA 2K24 (PlayStation 4).
Sadly, the Wayne County High School’s Esports Team was outplayed by Shelby County High School in the fourth round. Shelby County then moved on to fight either Great Crossing High School or Belfry High School who were scheduled to contest later yesterday.
Allen Eherdt, the Esports Coach from Wayne County High School, couldn’t be more proud of his team members – Mya Aguirre, Takoda Paute, Brody Ballou, Amelia Dishman, Sanali Upchurch, and Kelsey-Ann Urman. These hardworking students dedicated numerous hours post school, strategizing and utilising team spirit to reach the Final Four of the Kentucky championship.
The adrenaline-pumping tournament started on April 16th with Round 1, where the team defeated the Flyers Mario Kart Team among 32 schools. On April 18th, with 16 teams in the field, Wayne County overpowered the Scott Eagles Team. In Round 3 on April 22, they overcame the LHS Generals MK8 when only eight teams were left. In the fourth round on April 25, Wayne County was dethroned by the Blue Shell-by team of Shelby County High School.
Although the end result was not in their favour, it was an amazing experience for the local team. They were part of 78 teams in Kentucky competing in the regular season. Esports, the rapidly growing high school sport nationwide, has recently received KHSAA sanction as a coed sport. The team plays in the fall and from February to April in the spring season.