Harrisburg Hosts Largest Collegiate Esports Tournament

Esports fans flooded downtown Harrisburg to witness three teams emerge as Champions at the 2019 Harrisburg University Esports Invitational (HUE), the nation’s largest collegiate esports tournament. The top prize in Overwatch and League of Legends went to Maryville, who edged out Harrisburg University in both finals, and Kent State took the title in Hearthstone. All three victors defeated some of the fiercest teams across the nation, including Penn State, Ohio State, and Robert Morris University.

This is the second year for this nationally-renowned event, which Harrisburg University of Science and Technology (HU) succeeded in growing substantially in a year's time. HU tripled the number of teams, added to the already sizable prize pool and extended the duration of the tournament, yet again setting the tone for the collegiate esports industry.

“HUE was designed to address the need for a better esports tournament experience at the collegiate level,” explained President Darr, of Harrisburg University. “After the success of last year, we wanted to push it even further. We realize what an honor it is to host so many impressive esports teams here in Harrisburg and we are committed to delivering an unforgettable tournament for everyone involved.”

As Maryville battled HU’s Overwatch team with the hopes of avenging their loss at the ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship, a fully-packed arena of spectators and thousands of Twitch viewers watched with anticipation. Renowned shoutcasters, Mitch “Uber” Leslie and Matt “Mr. X” Morello, gave the play-by-play. Stephen “Returned” Johnson and Alex “Magical” Whieldon took the stage during the League of Legends finals where Maryville captured their second trophy, and Grayson “NeverLucky” O’Connell and Rosemary “Nekkra” Kelley were at the helm for Hearthstone’s inaugural year at HUE.

“Events like HUE were always part of the vision for our esports program,” said Chad Smeltz, HU Esports Program Director. “At HU we’ve been able to leverage all of the combined professional and industry experience we have into something that this collegiate community has been asking for, and we don’t plan on stopping.”

About HUE - The Harrisburg University Esports Invitational (HUE) is the largest annual collegiate esports tournament in the United States. HUE brings together over 60 teams from colleges across the country to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to battle for the Championship titles in Overwatch, League of Legends and Hearthstone. Spectators can watch the finals live at the Whitaker Center’s Sunoco Performance Theater, as teams battle it out for a piece of the $55,000 cash prize pool.

Harrisburg University Esports -  Harrisburg University’s Esports Program is the University’s first–and only–varsity sport. The varsity team competes in some of the most popular esports games around the world, including League of Legends, Overwatch, and Hearthstone. Team members compete on 40’ screens in HU’s state-of-the-art arena space and receive full scholarships as part of the varsity team. HU’s Overwatch team is 2019 ESPN Collegiate Esports Champion and has hosted large collegiate esports tournament events at the university. HU was recently named “Best Esports Program” at the 2019 Tempest Awards.

For more information, visit http://hustorm.gg or follow the University on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as view tournaments on Twitch.