Spartan News is a presentation of Mason County Central School District in partnership with Mason County Press.
EAST LANSING — The Mason County Central esports team, the Omega Spartans Mario Kart team, advanced to the Final Four in state championships held last weekend at Michigan State University.
The team lost to eventual state runner up, No. 1-ranked Novi.
“The Novi coach caught me after the match and said that our state ranking was not indicative of our playing level,” said co-coach Tim Danielson. “We actually led for most of the second game and he thanked us for making his team nervous and keeping them sharp.”
The 12th ranked Spartans scored two big upsets during their playoff run. They beat fifth-ranked Jenison in the sweet 16, and then shutout fourth ranked, and perennial state contender, Woodhaven in the Elite Eight.
“The communication and teamwork has greatly improved over the past month and it showed,” Danielson said. “We had solid contributions from everyone on the roster. I am very proud of how far we have come in just our second year as a program and that we brought some hardware back to the west side of the state.
“We are really looking forward to the spring season.”
Danielson said the Novi coach said that the Spartans will be really tough next school year as he and one of the other Final Four teams are both going to be graduating a lot of seniors.
“We are returning all of our starters next year and not losing anybody,” Danielson said.
“Even though we didn’t come out all the way on top, it was a great experience for the kids and it was so great to see them bonding,” said Co-Coach Marissa Rodriguez.
The Michigan High School Esports League, (MHSEL) runs a fall and a spring season. It provides nine game titles for high school state competition. This fall saw a record number of schools and teams competing in esports.
The spring league, starting in late February, is expected to field even more schools and teams. MCC will be returning both Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers and either Rocket League or bring on Fortnite.
____________________
Please Support Local News and Sports Coverage
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
To sign up, email editor@mediagroup31.com. In the subject line write: Subscription. Please supply your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number (indicate cell phone). We will not share your information with any outside sources. For more than one email address in a household, the cost is $15 per month per email address.
We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
Payment must be made in advance prior to subscription activation.
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2025, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
.png)
