High school-level esports teams from across Utah gathered at Salt Lake Community College’s Taylorsville Redwood campus on Jan. 11 for the Ken Garff Esports Regional, a local gaming competition. The event kicked off a new year of events from organizer Ken Garff Esports.
Students put their skills to use in video games like “Rocket League,” “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” and “Mario Kart 8.” Participants were also able to make themselves known to higher-level teams, including SLCC’s own esports program.
The main event of the day featured a competition in “Rocket League.” In this game, players use rocket-boosted cars to compete in unruly soccer matches. The event’s champion was a team from Cottonwood Heights High School, which went 4-0 in the tournament and won 3-0 against Herriman High School in the final series.
“It’s a smaller club this year; we haven’t really come back from COVID,” said Dwight Epperson, a competitor from Cottonwood Heights. “But these guys are leading the way. We love to come into the next level of competition the way it should be done.”
Director of esports at SLCC, Jeff Sosa, said the Ken Garff competitions provide the important benefit of helping high schoolers build connections.
“These Ken Garff regional events help high schoolers get in touch with their local college campus teams [and] give students the opportunity to meet up with Spacestation Gaming, our local professional organization,” Sosa said.
“Many high school students do not get many opportunities to visit college campuses during the school day, let alone compete in esports against other schools on a college campus in person,” Sosa continued. “High schoolers could easily compete online [at home] and not know the next steps in their gaming/competitive careers … Events like this help students see the whole professional pathway.”
Sosa noted that SLCC’s esports program is always recruiting. In addition to offering the same games played at the Ken Garff tournament, SLCC also plays “Valorant,” “Overwatch 2,” “Hearthstone,” “League of Legends,” “Halo Infinite,” “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege” and “StarCraft II.”
Competitors interested in SLCC’s esports program can follow the team on Twitch.
