12/11/25 Elementary School Mario Kart Open Fall 2025:

A New Champion Rises: Highlights from the Elementary Mario Kart Grand Prix!

Another year, another incredible display of talent and sportsmanship! This year, our elementary esports community leveled up, bringing together 65 racers from across the district’s "web of greatness."

As with previous years, the energy was electric—and the competition did not disappoint. Every school brought their A-game, but in the end, new names were etched into our history books.

The Podium Finish

• Individual Champion: A huge congratulations to Miles from Running Springs! Miles out-maneuvered 64 other racers to take home 1st place overall. He is officially the "Best of the Best" at Mario Kart this year!

• The School Title: The prestigious Championship Belt found a new home this year with California Inspire Academy. They were the "sleeper" team of the tournament, quietly accruing points in every stage and surprising the field to take the overall title.

The Challenger Medal Hunt

We introduced a brand-new twist this year inspired by national esports conferences: The Challenger Rankings.

Every student started with a numbered medal representing their rank. The mission? Mingle, compete, and climb the ladder! The room was buzzing as students challenged one another to seize the #1 spot. At one point, the elusive #1 Medal was held by a talented racer from Cambridge Elementary! This addition was a massive hit, turning a simple tournament into a masterclass in networking and school-to-school connection.

We’re already counting down the days until next year. The big question remains: Will a new champion emerge to take the belt?

3/26/25 Middle School Smash Open 2025:

Another Year, Another Epic Showdown! 🎮🏆

The 2025 Middle School Smash Open is in the books, and what a tournament it was! Once again, the best players from Santiago Charter, Yorba Middle, Cerro Villa Middle, and McPherson Magnet brought their A-game, competing through five intense rounds of bracket play to crown this year’s champion.

As we hinted before... Santiago Charter defends their title! 🏆 They locked in 1st and 3rd place, while Cerro Villa made a strong statement, securing 2nd place! A huge shoutout to all the competitors who showed skill, strategy, and sportsmanship—this event was filled with smiles, laughter, family support, and nonstop hype. This is what scholastic esports is all about! 🎮❤️

A special thank you and heartfelt farewell to Coach Steven Van Smaalen. Your dedication to your students and the esports community has made a lasting impact. Best of luck in Idaho—you will be missed!

We’ll be back next spring... and maybe, just maybe, even in the fall. 😉 See you all next season!

Thank you to Data Impressions for the Nintendo Switch donation. Thank you to Mr. Flores and the El Modena esports team for helping with the event.

PC: Elijah C. Communications

#SmashOpen2025 #ScholasticEsports #GameOn #GG

4/30/25 Elementary School Mario Kart Open 2025:

This past Wednesday, April 30th, we hosted our Elementary Esports Championship — and it was our biggest one yet!

11 schools. 60 student racers. One goal: become the best Mario Kart 8 driver in the district!

This year was full of firsts — for the first time ever, we had to run playoff matches because of how stacked the talent was! The competition was fierce, the races were tight, and the energy was electric.

Big shoutout to La Veta Elementary, who brought the heat with TWO top-tier drivers and took the crown! But don’t sleep on Fletcher Academy — they raced hard, held their own, and earned a strong second-place finish.

Another first? A championship tie! That’s right — La Veta and Fletcher both racked up the same number of points throughout the day, sharing the title of overall point champions!

Thank you to all the players, coaches, and families who made this event unforgettable. The smiles, sportsmanship, and sense of community were next-level. Thank you Orange High for hosting the event this year.

GGs all around, and we can’t wait to see you on the track next year!

3/30/24 Middle School Smash Open 2024:

Woo-hoo! Another Middle School Smash Open season has come to an end, and boy, was it a blast! Our scholastic gamers rocked the house with their insane Super Smash Bros skills! We challenged Cerro Villa, Yorba, McPherson, and Santiago Charter to bring their top 5 players to battle it out in an epic bracket of champions. The goal? To crown the ultimate middle school Smash champion in our district! 

After all was said and done Santiago Charter was crowned the Champion by taking first place with O.Bjork and winning the overall points champion! 

Second place went to Z. Rahman [SC] and third place went to J. Castaneda [CV]