The author is the Social Media Manager of this organization.
To some, NJIT Esports is just a group of people in the Campus Center basement playing Super Smash Bros throughout the school day. While true, this perception doesn’t tell the full story of our club, as there are several players that run events on campus or compete in intercollegiate competitions. One of the groups that does the latter is our Valorant players. Valorant is a team-based first-person shooter game developed by Riot Games.
Recently, two NJIT Esports Valorant teams competed in Red Bull’s Campus Clutch, an international competition to determine the best collegiate Valorant team in the world. NJIT Esports sent two teams, Highlanders Red and Highlanders White. In particular, Highlanders White performed exceptionally; the team consisted of the Ian Concepcion, Jaden Nguyen, Aaron Hsu, Jordie Palacios, Nick Fortis, and Bovan Phillips. Highlanders White was able to place third out of 28 teams in the Red Bulls Campus Clutch USA New York Qualifier 1, while Highlanders Red managed to achieve a respectable sixth place.
Despite Highlanders White’s high placement, the team was one game short of qualifying for the regional finals. Fortunately for our Valorant players, all hope wasn’t lost quite yet. Highlanders White attended a second qualifier containing 29 teams. Highlanders White won four consecutive games, securing a spot in the finals of the qualifier as well as in the regional finals. The date for the regional final is Oct. 22, 2022, when Concepcion, Nguyen, Hsu, Palacios, and Fortis will journey to OS Studios in NYC to compete against teams from Rutgers University, St. John’s University, and Stony Brook University. Should our Highlanders win the regional finals, they will qualify for the national finals. Will they prevail? No one knows, but we wish them the best.
For anybody who would like more information about the NJIT Esports club, you can check out the Highlander Hub or visit the office, room B10 in the Campus Center Basement. You can also join the Discord server to ask any of the Eboard members or Game Managers about a particular game. To keep up with news related to NJIT Esports, feel free to follow the club on Twitter and Instagram @njitesports.
