Adrian, Mich. – Competing their first season in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC), the Saint Xavier University Esports team had 12 student-athletes earn WHAC All-Academic recognition, along with two student-athletes being named All-WHAC Second Team, and head coach Lamar Daniels being named the Champion of Character Coach for the conference. The awards were announced at the WHAC Tournament Championships this past weekend, hosted by Siena Heights University (Mich.) in Adrian, Mich.
The 12 student-athletes that earned WHAC All-Academic had to maintain at least a grade point average (GPA) of 3.25 and be enrolled at their school for at least one calendar year.
Some of the matches ran long, pushing the start of the finals into the next week. In the Overwatch 2 Tournament Championship, top-seeded Siena Heights defeated No. 2 Indiana Tech, 4-0. The No. 3 ranked Cougars started the tournament with a 3-0 win over No. 6 Aquinas College (Mich.) before losing to IIT in a close match, 3-2. SXU was eliminated in the third-place match by No. 4 Lawrence Tech University, 2-1.
In the League of Legends Tournament Championship, No. 2 seed Rochester Christian University (Mich.) upset No. 1 Indiana Tech, 3-2, to claim the title. Saint Xavier was the No. 6 seed, losing its first match to No. 3 Lawrence Tech, 2-0. The Cougars were eliminated by No. 4 Lourdes University (Ohio), 2-0, in the double-elimination tournament.
In the Valorant Tournament Championship, No. 1 Siena Heights was victorious over No. 2 Lawrence Tech by a 3-1 decision. No. 6 SXU lost to No. 3 Rochester Christian, narrowly, 2-1. Saint Xavier was eliminated by No. 5 IIT also by a close 2-1 score.
The Rocket League Tournament was held back in November, also at SHU. No. 1 Rochester Christian bested No. Siena Heights for the crown. The Cougars entered as the No. 4 seed, losing their first match to No. 5 Cleary University (Mich.), and they were eliminated by No. 3 Indiana Tech.
Junior Mohamad 'Tuby' Thabet (Bridgeview, Ill./Moraine Valley/Argo Community) was named All-WHAC Second Team for Rocket League back in November. He was also named to the Champions of Character Team.
For the Spring Semester, claiming All-WHAC Second Team recognition was freshman Aleks 'gosh' Roman (Darien, Ill./Downers Grove South) for Overwatch 2. Also coming away with All-WHAC Second Team honors was senior Sebastian 'szbui' Szbua (Justice, Ill./Moraine Valley/Argo Community) for Valorant.
