According to the National Cyber League (NCL), students in the Anderson University Center for Cybersecurity continue to excel in competition, holding onto a number 5 national ranking two semesters in a row.
Every semester, 8,000-plus students from approximately 500 colleges and universities across the United States compete in this national cybersecurity competition.
Additionally, the Spring 2024 NCL results show that Anderson University continues to be the highest-ranked Christian Institution for the third semester in a row and the highest ranked institution in the Southeast for the second semester in a row.
During the Spring 2024 semester Team Game, Anderson had seven teams; four of the teams placed in the top 50 out of more than a thousand teams nationwide. Also, Anderson had five individuals in the top 100 in the Individual Game from a total of approximately 3,960 students.
A complete list of students and teams is at the end of this article.
The Anderson University team has also grown from 36 to 45 students. In addition to Cybersecurity students, other majors are invited to compete. This semester, engineering student Ben Mullikin took part in the competition and placed highly in both the Team Game and Individual Game.
Some collegiate cybersecurity competitions only allow a specific number of students to compete; however, Anderson University is competing in competitions where everyone has a shot to learn, grow and show employers how prepared they are.
“I feel very blessed to have such a strong Cyber program here at AU. Being able to learn from top-notch faculty and peers in a Christian environment is really special,” said Aaron McCurry, who just finished his fourth semester at AU. “I think the competition results are a reflection of that.”
Cybersecurity Professor Brandon Grech compares the way they compete to basketball.
“Instead of only having five on the court at a time, we do not have a maximum number of students that can compete. All of our cybersecurity competition students get to practice, play and compete at a high level. Cybersecurity students are not put on the bench to allow for other talented players to shine. We have all of our cybersecurity competition students practicing and competing in high numbers. It is awesome to see them learning and growing with each other,” Grech said. “It is really awesome to see God bless us in this journey. Having four different teams (of up to seven players) in the Top 50 in the country is a testament to their hard work and everything going on here at AU. It is not a single person or item. It is a collective result of the faculty, staff, classes, practices, technology, and most importantly, students.”
Grech concluded, “We cannot control how well other colleges/universities are preparing their students; however, we can control our own growth (and the results take care of themselves). I’m reminded of how John Wooden coached his UCLA basketball teams. He paid minimal attention to other teams and their scouting reports. Wooden and the players simply prepared themselves as best they can for competition and the results arrived.”
Spring 2024 Results
Click here for the National Cyber League Spring 2024 results.
Team Standings
- GRUGgGming@au placed ninth (out of 1,034 teams)
- AU_PH1SH3RSOFM3N placed at number 26.
- Part of the Crew, Part of the SSHip placed at number 33
- Trojan_Transit@AU placed at number 42
Extremely impressive efforts were also made by The_Trojan_Horse (Top 20%), Ctrl-Alt-Defeat (Top 22%), and LosPollosLocos (Top 28%)
Team Rosters
- bebo@AU: Eric Watkins, Mason Kellam, Joshua Karpus, Joshua “JW” Stephens, Nicholas Fowler, Andrew Emerson and Seth Taylor
- AU_PH1SH3RSOFM3N: Camden Sloan, Aaron McCurry, Zachary Lee, Charlie Paddock, Patrick “Will” Bratten, Kyle Beauregard and Noah Perricelli
- Part of the Crew, Part of the SSHip: Benjamin Mullikin, Kendall Davenport, Jaimee Sanders, Caleb Boyter, Genevieve Bronson, Cory Freeburn and Jack Treaster
- Trojan_Transit@AU: Joshua Corderio, David “Graham” Edwards, Branson Bailey, Maximus McBride, Nathan Dorrity and Brycen Morrison
- The_Trojan_Horse: Cynthia “Lucy” Ray, Jack McCotter, Michael Pavel, CJ Rylands, Amanda Grubb and Dylan Wyatt
- Ctrl-Alt-Defeat: Courtney Blum, Jacob Cordeiro, Ansley Sanders, Meredith Frick, Thomas Cain, Mittie Borden and Konner Abercrombie
- LosPollosLocos: Ryan Welch, Sean St. Clair, Andrew Blakney, Gentry Watson and David Montoya.
Against approximately 3,960 students, Anderson University (SC) had 45 students compete. Five students placed in the Top 100!
- Eric Watkins (Splorpy) Number 11
- Joshua Karpus (KarpetK) Number 63
- Seth Taylor (Cloverblack44) Number 90
- Aaron McCurry (at0m1c) Number 93
- Camden Sloan (goPH!$H) Number 95
Extremely impressive efforts were also made by Kyle Beauregard, Benjamin Mullikin, Kendall Davenport, David “Graham” Edwards, Joshua Cordeiro, Genevieve Bronson, Branson Bailey, Meredith Frick, Mason Kellam, Joshua “JW” Stephens, Ansley Sanders, Michael Pavel, Jacob Cordeiro, Courtney Blum, Patrick “Will” Bratten, Nathan Dorrity, Thomas Cain, Charlie Paddock, CJ Rylands, Ryan Welch, Jaimee Sanders, Dylan Wyatt, Konner Abercrombie, Jack McCotter, Andrew Emerson, Cynthia “Lucy” Ray, Nicholas Fowler, Brycen Morrison, Gentry Watson, Sean St. Clair, Maximus McBride, Amanda Grubb, Cory Freeburn and Mittie Borden.
The Anderson University Center for Cybersecurity trains students to meet the unique demands of today’s cybersecurity industry. Degree tracks focus on cybersecurity with specializations in analytics, criminal justice, or mathematics. Details can be found online.