Coaches (left to right) Nickolas Seitz, Roman Hill, and Mike Carnahan pose with their Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers.

Although the stereotype of gamers might come with a negative connotation, there is nothing negative coming from STC’s state qualifying esports team. Under the Coaching of Mike Carnahan, Nickolas Seitz, and Roman Hill, the Trojan Esports team earned their third state qualification in MarioKart8 Deluxe.

Banquet recognizes eSports excellence

On Sunday, May 26, several eSports athletes joined with their families and coaches met in the high school commons area to celebrate the success of the esports team. In their third year running the team is governed by the Iowa High School eSports Association (IAHSEA), with over 100 member schools throughout the state.

In the three years of sanctioned eSports action, STC has been one of the state’s premier MarioKart competitors, in the first two years of trailblazing action STC finished seventh and fourth in the state. After many inaugural members of the team graduated, the group rallied and fought their way back to a ninth place finish. One pixel that helped the Trojans fill the screen was ’23 graduate and MCC ESports team member Roman Hill coming to help the team in a coaching role with high level collegiate experience.

With the growing success and popularity of ESports in Iowa schools, the IAHSEA gave out banners to state qualifiers this year. The banner will be displayed in the high school with a final destination still to be determined.

ESports athlete Alex Babinat poses atop the commons area over one of the eSports banners.

The STC eSports team looks to continue their success for years to come. To learn more about the association, visit: https://www.iahsea.org/home_1

The newly acquired IAHSEA State Qualifier Banner shown being displayed in the high school commons area.