MU paintball team confident for nationals

The team will compete in Florida this week.

By Megan Donohue

Published April 6, 2010

The MU paintball team will compete in the National Collegiate Paintball Association's National Championships in Lakeville, Fla., from April 9 to April 11.

This is the team's first visit since the team was restarted in 2007 by co-captain and President Chris Masters.

The team will compete against 52 other schools that are registered on NCPA's Web site. Co-captain Joe Tannehill said the team is hoping to make it to the end of the semifinals at the very least and to ideally earn a spot on the podium.

"We've done a lot of research on other teams, watched a lot of their videos that they have online, and we've practiced the layout," Tannehill said. "We have several plays made up, and right now we are trying to buckle down and get everyone to calm down because everyone's pretty excited."

Team member Zachary Hagy said a spot in the top four at nationals would help add more team sponsors and thus allow the team to pay for new gear or possibly even a new field closer to MU.

The team will be competing in the AA division, which consists of a five-man team that earns points by eliminating bodies from the other team, hanging the flag at the opposing team's entry point and keeping bodies alive on their own team, Tannehill said.

Next season, the team will compete in Division A, the highest level of competition.

Masters said the team members have been confident and focused on doing their best throughout the season, and he is confident in their ability to do well at nationals.

"We have the guys, we have the talent, we have the heart, we have the drive," Masters said. "We just go out there every weekend, and we want to win it. If we don't place in the top three, it's a complete let-down."

Their confidence has grown partly through forming friendships on and off the field because the team travels together to Kansas City or St. Louis for practice most weekends and sometimes even to Chicago or Omaha, Masters said.

"We play great as a team," Masters said. "On and off the field what really brings the team together is spending time together and being able to trust your guys to make the moves that they need to make."

The team also has the advantage of having individual competence as players. Masters said though a lot of the players are new, they are strong.

Hagy said his goal in competition is to shoot a lot of people.

"I'm making a pretty risky move a majority of the time and hopefully it works well because it should win some games for sure," Hagy said.

Hagy and his teammates will be sporting the team's new jerseys for nationals.

The team's biggest competition consists of the top three ranked teams so far — the Illinois State Redbirds, Ohio University and Michigan State, Tannehill said.

"It's going to be a battle against them, but I think we can pull it off," Tannehill said.

Rankings and previous tournaments don't matter at this point, Masters said. The team is planning on showing up fresh and putting up a fight.

"Just like every team, you want to win," Masters said. "The drive and the desire is there, the heart is there, everybody's set, everybody's minds are right. We're ready to go. It's our first nationals together as this group of guys, but we are more than ready and this is our time to shine."