RAPID CITY, S.D. --- The South Dakota Mines Esports Team is competing in a couple of different competitions, partaking in the Collegiate Champions League and the LevelNext Rocket League Spring Showcase

The Collegiate Champions League (CCL) is a league created and administered by Dakota State and offers collegiate Esports competition for mid-west colleges and universities. League of Legends, Rocket League, and Valorant are currently the sponsored games. The Spring Finals were hosted by the University of South Dakota on April 23-24.

The South Dakota Mines Rocket League team qualified for the in-person finals by winning the Gold Division with a 3-5 record. The Gold Division consisted of Dakota State University, University of North Dakota in addition to South Dakota Mines. The Blue Division consisted of the University of Nebraska, North Dakota State University, and the University of South Dakota.

The opening game on Saturday was a 4-0 defeat to the top-seed University of Nebraska.
Game 1: 5-0
Game 2: 4-3
Game 3: 4-1
Game 4: 4-1

Nebraska went on to win the Rocket League Championship by defeating North Dakota State. South Dakota Mines took 4^th place after losing 4-1 at the hands of USD.

3^rd/4^th Place Match
Game 1:               6-2 (W)
Game 2:               3-1
Game 3:               4-2
Game 4:               3-1
Game 5:               4-1

Competing in this event for South Dakota Mines were Divo Cerjan, Cooper Emery, Blake Leffler, and Ben Tibbetts.

In addition, the varsity team competed in the LevelNext Rocket League Spring Showcase for a chance at $75,000. We had a strong run-in group stage play going 2-2 but ultimately were eliminated from the tournament in a 3-1 loss to the University of Buffalo. We had wins against USD and Kent State. In addition to the tournament, LevelNext and Takis are also sponsoring a Twitter competition for a chance at $50,000 which includes a top prize of $15,000. 100% of the winnings will go towards our Esports program. We are currently in third place with a week to go in the competition. Individuals can help just by interacting (Like, Retweet, Quote, and Comment) with @SDMines_Esports tweets that have the #LevelNextRLTakis. The event ends on April 28.

About South Dakota Mines
The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology is a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and NCAA Division II offering 11 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic programs. The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is a premier NCAA Division II conference with 15 members, as well as four associate members, located in the states of California, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.