By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer
The best high school gamers from all over the state will battle is out for various state championships in Evergreen Park this weekend.
The Illinois High School Association’s second eSports state championships will be held on Saturday, April 29, at Evergreen Park Community High School after it was held at Bloomington High School in its inaugural year.
Although no one from Evergreen Park qualified out of sectional play on April 22, the Southwest Regional Publishing area will be well represented.
Stagg qualified Richards Sectional champ junior Kristian Zajac as an individual plus two teams also qualified.
The Chargers will have the sectional-champion Super Smash Bros Crew Battle team of senior Triston Juarez and Julius Gomez, juniors Joel Droesch, Ousayed Alkhani, Isaac Ling and Szymon Kieta plus freshman Isaac Ferniza.
They will also have the Mario Kart sectional champion team of seniors Paul Cisko and Cole Wycislak, junior Nicholas Beszanis and sophomores Jack Gawel and Christos Giapitzoglou.
Richards is sending its Super Smash Bros Crew team of juniors Oswaldo Cadenas, Keagan Krawczyk and Manuel Trevino, sophomores Joshua Brown and Mohammed Yassin and freshman Eliud Quiroz.
Shepard is sending its second-place Mario Kart team of seniors Jason Happ and Chris Pickett, junior Ashwin Battaglia and freshmen Edgar Escamilla, Jacobs Rosenquist, Travon Blake and Angelina Garza.
Sandburg senior Faisal Abdulhadi qualified as an individual after winning the sectional title in the FIFA division.
At the DePaul Sectional, Reavis qualified a host of gamers as sophomore Anthony Morales won the FIFA Individual category and junior Leo Mendoza took second in the Super Smash Bros Individual.
The Rams also qualified a team for state after finishing second in the Rocket League Team competition. Senior Marcos Maldonado, juniors Max Hernandez, Eric Osorio and Pablo Medina plus sophomore Eduardo Sandoval make up the team.
De La Salle’s Mario Kart team qualified with a first-place finish and the team consists of senior Lucas Solis, junior Sebastian Ayala, sophomores Samuel Bravo, Brian Cox and Anthony Valdez and freshman Daniel Villa.
Preliminary rounds begin at 9 a.m. and the finals will take place at approximately 1 p.m.