First Round of CHSAA’s Esports’ Mario Kart 8 Tournament Has Been Completed

AURORA – The first round of the Colorado High School Activities Association’s esports postseason tournament for MarioKart 8 Deluxe was completed Thursday, with 16 teams advancing to the next round.

All of the higher-seeded teams except for one managed to survive the first round. Brighton High School’s “BHS Bulldogs Deluxe” were the lone lower-seeded squad to complete the upset. Meanwhile, Rocky Mountain High School was the only school to advance multiple teams to the second round. Rocky Mountain was also one of just three schools to advance multiple teams to the second round in this week’s Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament.

The tournament is a single-elimination bracket with second-round games being played on Monday, April 22 and quarterfinal games being played Wednesday, April 24. The four winners on the 24th will advance to the in-person final at Localhost on Thursday, May 2. 

Find the full bracket on PlayVS, in addition to match times.

All 16 remaining teams are listed below in rank order:

No. 1 Pueblo West Mario Kart Varsity

• School: Pueblo West High School
• Players: Jesse Wardle, Bradley Johnson, Alexander Price, Ayres Ritchey
• First Round Result: Defeated “Nighthawks Kart” (Northfield High School), 2-0.

No. 2 North Kart A

• School: Denver North High School
• Players: Robin Archuleta, Trésor Smith, Jin Urbina, Frederick Rivard
• First Round Result: Defeated “Creek Kart Vroom Vroom” (Cherry Creek High School), 2-0.

No. 3 PCHS_02_Kart

• School: Pine Creek High School
• Players: Smith Barrionuevo, Alex Evans, William Blasko, Zain Khan
• First Round Result: Defeated “Platte Valley Broncos” (Platte Valley High School), 2-0.

No. 4 DCC Mario Kart

• School: Discovery Canyon Campus School
• Players: Kaleb Kirby, Andrew Hiles, Brendan Youkey, Coleton Tallman
• First Round Result: Defeated “Grizzlies A-Mario Kart” (Fowler High School), 2-0.

No. 5 Engineers

• School: Power Technical Early College
• Players: Nathan Helart, Dylan Dornbusch, Gentri Bauman, Austin Bazzo
• First Round Result: Defeated “Grandview HS Mario Kart Black” (Grandview High School), 2-0.

No. 6 Legend HS Mario Kart

• School: Legend High School
• Players: Ryan Schneider, Austin Chapman, Conner Wilson, Taeo Gaskins
• First Round Result: Defeated “Chatfield Mario Kart Varsity” (Chatfield High School), 2-1.

No. 7 RMHS Lobos Varsity

• School: Rocky Mountain High School
• Players: Cooper White, Layla Woodman, Alyson Cathcart, James Baird
• First Round Result: Defeated “CHS Mario Kart” (Centaurus High School), 2-0.

No. 8 Fossil Ridge Mario Kart

• School: Fossil Ridge High School
• Players: Zach Brors, Gilad Ley, Brady King, Ari Ley
• First Round Result: Defeated “THUNDERHKZ ULTRA” (Ellicott Senior High School), 2-1.

No. 9 WarriorKart

• School: Poudre Community Academy
• Players: Jayden Robertson, Killian O’Toole, Simon Pieman, Ronin Niles
• First Round Result: Defeated “Mario Kart Varsity” (Mountain Range High School), 2-0.

No. 10 Thunderstorm

• School: ThunderRidge High School
• Players: Sam McLaughlin, Marcin Bodzianowski, Gennady Brown, Austin Doolittle
• First Round Result: Defeated “CECP Mario Kart Lions” (Colorado Early Colleges Douglas County), 2-0.

No. 11 Falcon Awesome Kart

• School: Highlands Ranch High School
• Players: Parker Kelly, Quincy Troup, Carter Rini, Matej Vesely
• First Round Result: Defeated “North Kart B” (Denver North High School), 2-0.

No. 12 ERA Warriors Mario Kart

• School: Eagle Ridge Academy
• Players: Vincent Banuelos, Samuel Akin, Gunnar Cantrell, Benjamin Gallo
• First Round Result: Defeated “DJDS Tiger Esports” (Denver Jewish Day School), 2-0.

No. 13 Varsity Patriot Kart

• School: George Washington High School
• Players: Christian Gonzalez, Rafael Hernandez, Keira Miller, Faima Pina
• First Round Result: Defeated “Ranch Racers” (Highlands Ranch High School), 2-0.

No. 15 RMHS Lobos JV

• School: Rocky Mountain High School
• Players: Alan Miller, Theodoyr Hellsing, Jordan Lucero, Brennan Lyman
• First Round Result: Defeated “Stallions Cardinal MK” (Sierra High School), 2-1.

No. 16 Wray Eagles

• School: Wray High School
• Players: Logan Hammond, Angel Gutierrez, Mackenzie Carwin, Christopher Bivens
• First Round Result: Defeated “PCHS_01_Kart” (Pine Creek High School), 2-0.

No. 19 BHS Bulldogs Deluxe

• School: Brighton High School
• Players: Hayden Kirby, Justin Lockwood, Lex Powell, Alex Grein
• First Round Result: Defeated “THUNDERHKZ MEGA” (Ellicott High School), 2-0.