Grizzly Esports at the University of Montana recently leveled up with its first team to win a video game college national championship.
The five-member UM squad competed in League of Legends, a strategy game in which two teams of powerful champions face off to destroy each other’s base. Players choose from among 140 champion varieties who work together online to secure kills and take down towers as they battle their way to victory. The multiplayer game boasts 120 million monthly users.
UM won the championship May 6, competing in the National Esports Collegiate Conference organization. NECC hosts competitions for 500 participating colleges.
“This is the first time in the history of our program we had a top win at the national level,” said Cale Patenaude, the UM esports assistant director. “Our team went undefeated during the regular season and then in the NECC West Conference playoffs. They were then selected for nationals based on that performance – and our guys just kept winning.”
The team didn’t travel to nationals. Instead, they completed online in UM’s Esports Arena, located in the University Center. All matches were streamed on UM’s esports Twitch channel.
The members of the national champion team are:
- Andrew “MrPredator” Dinh, a freshman in music education from Great Falls.
- Dean “ReplayDK” Klakken III, a senior in game design and interactive media from Florence.
- Dylan “OGRE RI GAP” Nguyen, a freshman (undeclared) from East Helena.
- Logan “UMT Dapuppy” Richardson, a junior in human biological sciences from Pleasanton, California.
- Jace “Krauuuunk” Thomas, a sophomore in psychology and pre-law from Bozeman.
Patenaude believes team members won it all by playing well together, building one another up, capitalizing on individual talents and strategically covering up individual weaknesses.
“It’s what a real team needs to do,” he said. “They pick each other up and lift each other up. We couldn’t have done it without Dean’s amazing leadership and the team’s willingness to grow, adapt and build resilience, showing that in the face of adversity they can overcome.”
Team chemistry came together quickly. Patenaude said the champions only practiced together about four hours with actual games and scrimmages. They also spent about three hours studying gameplay videos. Additionally, team members spent several hours playing solo on the ranked ladder of League of Legends.
“I think we won because we came together, played and focused on communication over micro plays,” said Klakken, the student team captain. “It was never about who made a mistake. It was about how we could get better, and we tried to look at everything from a team perspective.”
Grizzly Esports officially launched in 2019 and now has 120 students on active rosters competing in a variety of game competitions in different conferences. Patenaude said the organization provides a supportive community for gamers at UM, crafting an environment where academics are emphasized and students are encouraged to support one another. The team also fundraises for a variety of charitable causes like Can the Cats and Extra Life.
“While we don’t focus on winning or push our players to be the most competitive, our environment invites natural growth and winning,” Patenaude said. “We do this by supporting each player, finding the right teams and giving them room for growth.”
Grizzly Esports also provides $1,000 scholarships to 50 UM students annually. Ten scholarships are distributed at each grade level from freshmen through graduate students.
“This win is really special because it shows the work we put into the program, our players and our community can turn out results like winning a national title,” Patenaude said.