York College of PA League of Legends esports team wins NECC Challengers National Championship

York College of Pennsylvania’s League of Legends esports team recently won the National Esports Collegiate Conference (NECC) Challengers National Championship.

The same team claimed a similar title for the Mideast Conference last fall. “NECC Nationals is similar to the title we won the first semester; however, it is on a much larger scale,” said Director of Esports Kyle Rosen.

NECC sections teams off into skill-based divisions: Legends, similar to NCAA Big 10 schools that offer full scholarships for esports; Champions and Challengers, similar to Division 1 schools; Emergents, similar to Division 2 schools; and Navigators, similar to Division 3 schools. York College competes in the Challengers Division. “In general, Challenger+ is considered extremely competitive,” said Rosen.

Next within each Division is Conferences, groups of 10 teams that compete for a conference title. “Winning a conference title alone is considered a large win for a college,” Rosen added.

Nationals take the top teams then from each conference throughout the year and place them into one large playoff stage, which starts with a group stage to determine a top-eight tournament. York College automatically qualified for this tournament, as it was considered the second place team, according to Rosen. “From there a traditional bracket of the top 8 played out. We finished our run going 6-1 and beating Assumption College, Florida Tech University, and Park University.”

York College’s team included Luke Nall, senior Computer Engineering major from Landenberg, Pa.; Isaac Yoka, junior Information Technology Management major from Mount Wolf, Pa.; Logan Reese, senior Mechanical Engineering major from Jackson, N.J.; Benjamin Reed, junior Finance major from Finksburg, Md.; and Roger Casado Sanchez, sophomore Psychology major from York.