Macleans College Esports team win inaugural University of Waikato National LAN Tournament

A LAN (Local Area Network) tournament involves players who are situated in the same room, connected to the same network. Most LAN events are held in arenas, with spectators and livestreams on platforms such as Twitch or YouTube.

On Saturday 24 August, the Macleans College Premier team travelled to the University of Waikato, Hamilton for an intensive two day tournament for a chance to be crowned the first University of Waikato national LAN tournament winners.

Despite competing with heavy favourites and top schools like Westlake Boys High School and Rangitoto College, the team still had high hopes of winning the national title. With an impressive eight back to back games over the span of two days, Macleans College started the tournament with two straightforward wins. This was followed by a decisive match against second-seed Rangitoto College, where Macleans College emerged victorious with a score of 13:7.

On the second day, in the upper-bracket semifinals, Macleans College faced Westlake Boys High School again and were unfortunately knocked into the lower bracket after a tough loss - however, hopes of winning were not lost. In the lower bracket final, Macleans College played against Botany Downs Secondary College, despite losing the first game 5:13, Macleans College fought back to win the next two games 14:12 and 13:3, therefore securing a spot in the grand finals.

Undeterred by the initial loss earlier in the day, Macleans College won the best of three series with a decisive two game victory against Westlake Boys High School, thus being crowned the first University of Waikato National LAN tournament winners.

The team would like to extend a huge thank you to Ms Xie, Mr Morris and Mr Konietzny for dedicating their weekend to accompany the team to Hamilton for the tournament and providing invaluable support.

Teacher in Charge of Esports: Ms Xie
Coach: Mr Morris
Manager: Mr Konietzny

2024 Macleans Premier Valorant Team:
Karanvir Kingra (captain) (Mansfield House), Hayden Tong-Ho (Mansfield), Jay Ye (Te Kanawa), Ethan Yang (Hillary), Joshua Stephens (Hillary), Aditya Kavthekar (Mansfield).