Local esports programs excel during first KSHSAA season

Last April, the Kansas State High School Activities Association voted to set up a winter sports platform and sanction a state championship for esports — organized, competitive, multi-player video gaming — if 24 schools would sign up for the activity.

Three of those schools were in Jackson County, and teams from two of those schools — Holton and Jackson Heights — qualified for the state playoffs in the first year of competition.

“Our ‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ team finished the regular season ranked eighth out of 105 teams statewide,” Holton High School esports coach Dillon Kathrens said, referring to the game his team played, a fighting game that combined popular characters from a wide variety of Nintendo video games.

Meanwhile, Jackson Heights High School’s esports team, coached by Travis Henry and well-versed in “Mario Kart,” a kart-racing video game, was ranked sixth statewide, and the team looked poised to advance to the state finals, to be held over the last weekend of January in Olathe.

However, neither team got past the quarterfinal round of state play, which was conducted remotely.

“We got to play a team from Blue Valley High School,” Henry said. “From the very first race, we knew they were extremely talented and skilled in the game. It was apparent from the first set that we probably weren’t going to make it to the in-person event in Olathe.”

The Wildcat esports team also lost in the first round to Andover Central, which took top honors in the “Super Smash Bros.” bracket and tied for the overall championship with Olathe West, which won its bracket in “Rocket League,” a game that involves soccer played with “rocket-powered battle cars” and the third of three games included in KSHSAA’s state esports championship.

“These kids put in a lot of work this season, and I’m really proud of what they accomplished,” Kathrens said of his esports team.

Jackson Heights recently completed its third season of esports, while Holton and Royal Valley have just completed their second, and the leaders of all three teams say they’re ready to see esports expand to the level of “traditional” physical sports like football and basketball.

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