HICKORY, N.C. — The Catawba Valley Community College Esports program will be well represented during the National Junior College Athletic Association Esports (NJCAAE) fall 2022 playoffs.
A program-record 18 Red Hawks have qualified for the NJCAAE postseason with a chance to win the first-ever national championship started next week.
"I am incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication our Red Hawk Esports student athletes have put in this fall," said Catawba Valley Esports head coach Cody Dalton. "Entering this fall, our program had 13 NJCAAE playoff qualifiers, and our students more than surpassed that mark this semester alone. I'm excited for each of them to make a run at our program's first national championship."
Of those who CVCC student athletes qualified, 10 are in the video game VALORANT, including the Red Hawk Red VALORANT team, which finished the regular season with a 7-0 record. RH Red team members include Jesus Andrade-Chavez, Cristian Baquiax, Krillin Vang, Sky Lee and Omar Rueda Vazquez.
The RH Black VALORANT team, which completed its regular season with a 5-2 record, also quailed for the NJCAAE playoffs. RH Black team members include Bailey Patterson, Bradley Jamison, Hector Santamaria, Evan Petty and Aiden Stevens.
Santamaria made program history by becoming the first Red Hawk to qualify for the NJCAAE playoffs in multiple video game titles in one season. Alongside teammate Juan David Morales, Santamaria also qualified for the NJCAAE playoffs in Call of Duty Warzone.
The Call of Duty Vanguard 4v4 team, which includes Donavon Ervin, Jerron Turner-Clark, DeVante Moore and Santamaria, qualified for the NJCAAE playoffs for the first time in Red Hawk Esports program history.
After finishing his regular season with a 6-1 record, the Red Hawks' Ethan Stiles becomes only the second-ever playoff qualifier in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
Nistelrooy Ordonez also made program history for the Red Hawks by becoming the first Catawba Valley Esports student athlete to qualify in FIFA.
The NJCAAE playoffs start on Monday, Nov. 28 and continue through Saturday, Dec. 10. The Red Hawks' matches will be streamed on the program's official Twitch channel — twitch.tv/cvccredhawks.
For more information on the Esports program at Catawba Valley Community College, please contact head coach Cody Dalton at cdalton880@cvcc.edui or call 828-327-7000, ext. 4133.