GLENVILLE — Glenville State College’s eSports team has earned the number two seed among the top 15 teams that will be participating in the National Association of Collegiate eSports NACE Madden Xbox National Championships.

Glenville’s eSports Madden competitor is senior accounting and management double major, Romnn Shell. He hails from Ambridge, Pennsylvania.

The playoff rankings were released by NACE on Monday and the Pioneers had originally earned a first round bye and were scheduled to play on Friday, April 2. A schedule change announced by NACE on Thursday moved GSC’s competition date up to Friday, March 26 at 8:00 p.m.

“Seeing us coming into the playoff at a number two ranking is an awesome feeling. Romnn has years of experience and knowledge with Madden and he puts that on full display every time he plays the game,” said Pioneer eSports Coach Logan Harrison.

The players will be competing in the 1 versus 1 format. Each player on the team will compete at the same time in individual games.

This marks the first year of competition for Glenville State College’s eSports team, a fact that isn’t lost on Harrison. “Being a first-year program in a COVID world is not an easy task but I would like to applaud my team for all of the hard work and dedication they have presented. Going through multiple quarantines with players and, at one point, having the majority of the team out made us great at adapting on the fly. I couldn’t ask for a better group of students to be surrounded by,” he added.

NACE is the association of college varsity eSports programs, with over 200 member institutions contributing over $16 million annually in eSports scholarships. The NACE championships are hosted by Skillshot Collegiate.

For more information about the eSports program at Glenville State College, contact Harrison at Logan.Harrison@glenville.edu or 304-462-6418.