Esports: Highlands Ranch Races to Mario Kart State Championship

LAKEWOOD – With two teams making their title match debut, Colorado was guaranteed to crown a first-time Mario Kart champion on Thursday.

During the Esports State Championships at Localhost, Highlands Ranch won 2-0 over Brighton for its first Esports state championship in any event.

“It’s amazing. It’s our first title in 14 years for the whole school and the first one for our Esports program,” Highlands Ranch head coach Kimberly Winters said. “Before we got to here, we were 11th in the nation, so we just keep going up. It’s been amazing how this program has grown and changed these kids’ lives.”

Thursday’s finals featured both of the top seeds in the state tournament.

Highlands Ranch – Landon Sobs, Parker Kelly, Quincy Troup, Derek Pierce and Matej Vesely – entered state as the No. 1 overall seed. Brighton – Hayden Kirby, Brody Scherer, Justin Lockwood, Lex Powell, Troy Alvarado and Kaden Connor – was the No. 2 seed.

“We were pretty dominant at first, but then at the end it was a very good competition,” Winters said. “We had excellent opponents from Brighton. The kids worked hard and they just stuck to their guns and they made it through. We’ve made it to the top three or four a couple of times, but this is the first time we made it number one. So, it’s been amazing.”

In the semifinals, Highlands Ranch won 2-0 over Denver North and Brighton won 2-0 over Rocky Mountain.

In the quarterfinals to reach Thursday’s in-person state championships, Highlands Ranch won 2-0 over Fossil Ridge, Denver North won 2-1 over Ellicott, Brighton won 2-0 over Legend and Rocky Mountain won 2-0 over Thunder Ridge.

Pueblo West defeated Rocky Mountain to win Mario Kart last year and Rocky Mountain defeated Pueblo West to win the title in 2023.