Grand Forks schools preparing for North Dakota state esports tournament

Feb. 26—GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks Central and Grand Forks Red River High School teams are set to compete at the 2026 North Dakota Esports State Tournament Friday and Saturday at UND. Students will be competing across games like Rocket League, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Fortnite, among others.

Red River and Central hold seedings in Super Smash Bros. and Rocket League. Among them is Central's undefeated Rocket League team this year, who hold a No. 2 seeding heading into the tournament. Central captain Luke Riley has been excited to see the program grow as a whole as his team has been improving with each match.

"It's been fun," he said. "I have mostly wanted to see this program grow and give others the opportunity to join and participate in the program."

Riley has been competing alongside Joseph Springer and Brandon Sullivan as the trio has racked up a 27-0 record through an eight-week regular season and two divisional tournament games.

In Super Smash Bros., Jaded Halvorson returns to the state tournament as the state runner-up while holding a 7-0 record this year. Halvorson comes into the tournament as the No. 3 seed. Alek Sayler and Caleb Machart will also compete in Super Smash Bros.

Along with individual championships, one school will be named the All-Around State Champion based on placement points accrued across all of their state qualifying teams. Thirty-eight schools are represented by 270 competitors this year.