The Catawba Valley Community College Esports team made history this past weekend, competing in the Red Bull Campus Clutch nationwide tournament in the video game VALORANT.
The Red Hawks were the only junior college Esports program that competed in the Deep South Qualifier 1, which featured a field of 34 teams made up of mostly four-year colleges and universities in the southeastern United States.
“I am incredible proud of the resilience and determination shown by our Red Hawk Esports student athletes,” said Catawba Valley Esports head coach Cody Dalton. “For many of our gamers, it was their first-ever collegiate competition, and they did extremely well. We’ve had this tournament on our radar for a long time. Being able to compete in the Red Bull Campus Clutch was a dream for many of us in the program. Thank you to Red Bull Gaming for putting together this amazing event.”
People are also reading…
Catawba Valley entered two VALORANT teams into the Campus Clutch competition, and both won their opening matches.
After receiving a first-round bye, the RH Red team won their second-round match against Johnson C. Smith 13-2 before falling in the third round of competition to Kennesaw State (Georgia) Esports.
RH Black — the second team competing for CVCC — also received a first-round bye and fought back from a late 12-9 deficit to stun the University of North Georgia 14-12. However, RH Black would also fall in the third round of the tournament, coming up short against Converse University (South Carolina).
Both of the Red Hawk VALORANT teams return to action this weekend at the Johnston Community College Campus Series LAN event being held in Smithfield. It marks the first time ever that the Catawba Valley Esports program has traveled to compete in a live tournament.
“We’re excited for the chance to have a new experience on the road this weekend,” Dalton said. “We hope to build on the momentum from our Campus Clutch performance and have a successful showing in Smithfield.”
CVCC has strong showing at Yeti Invitational: The CVCC cross country team exceeded all expectations at the inaugural Yeti Invitational at Cleveland Community College this past Saturday in Shelby.
Competing against multiple colleges and universities, including Division I four-year programs, CVCC did extremely well against its Division III competitors in Region 10.
“I’m so extremely excited and proud of how well our runners finished the race today,” said Red Hawk cross country head coach Shawn Fountain. “I’m very excited for regionals in a few weeks. We have the opportunity to do exceptionally well and represent Red Hawk Nation.”
In the men’s division, the Red Hawks’ Ryan Eblen finished in first place among Region 10 Division III runners with an 8K time of 33:41.80.
Preston Rutledge and Nick Shull were third and fifth, respectively, among conference Division III runners. Rutledge finished his 8K with a time of 36:28.10, and Shull recorded an 8K time of 38:21.90.
Despite a late-race fall, the Red Hawks’ Allison Beard placed second among the Region 10 Division III runners. Beard recorded a 5K time of 28:54.60.
The Catawba Valley Community College cross country team returns to the races on Saturday, Oct. 8 for the 2022 Akiah McMillan Invitational in Columbia, South Carolina.