FSU Panama City esports team ranked No. 1 going into next week’s championship

Florida State University Panama City’s esports team will compete in April as the top seed in the Peach Belt Conference’s Valorant Championship.

In April 2025, FSU PC’s esports team captured the Peach Belt League of Legends Champions Division title. This spring marks the team’s third year in the competition.

The Valorant team consists of students Ector Lopez-Trejo, Megan Saleh, Kenneth Aston, David Connor, Andrew Rautio, Jermiya Pena and Vincent Vu. Their coaches are Katie Dier and Timothy Peagler, who was a member of last year’s League of Legends championship team. 

Lopez-Trejo is a master’s degree-seeking student who was recently the first recipient of a scholarship for his participation in esports.

“The team has been competing since February and finished our regular season 5-1, securing us the number one seed and a bye to the championship,” Dier said. “We don't know who we will be facing yet. That match will be held this weekend.”

The championship match will be April 3-5 at Kennesaw State University in Marietta, Georgia.

Cross-Collegiate Esports is the first varsity team in FSU PC history, and in January 2023 the team was admitted to the NCAA Division II Peach Belt Conference as an associate member. Open to any full-time students in good standing, the team is university-funded and provides mentorship, the opportunity to travel and the potential to win monetary prizes.

The Peach Belt Conference was the first NCAA conference to hold an esports championship starting with the 2017-2018 academic year. The league was also the first to partner with Riot Games, publisher of League of Legends, the most-played online game in the world, and the first to hold an in-person live conference championship.

Matches can be viewed live at PeachBeltConference.org.