Cool Runnings (eSport Team)
Cool Runnings is a professional eSports team, and current USA representative for Red Stone in the World Cyber Games.
Original Roster
Jon "skootz" Lunceford - Team Captain
Sean "Wraith_zYn" Snack
Colin "SkylluszYn" Fogle
Matt "d00bi0us" Marcou
Zach "zsta2k7" Wolters - Coach/Alternate
History
Creation
The roots of Cool Runnings formed in 2008, with the announcement of a WCG USA Red Stone qualifier. Around the same time, founding member Jon Lunceford sustained an injury from playing college football at the time, making it impossible to travel to the WCG Regional tournament in which he qualified for in Carom3D. Not wanting to be left out of the competition, Lunceford teamed with another Carom3D qualifier, Zach "zsta2k7" Wolters, to attempt to qualify for the US Final. The duo rolled to a 2nd place finish in the online event, qualifying the team for the live final. As luck would have it, Lunceford was allowed to compete in the regional from home, placing first and allowing him to compete in multiple events at the US Final. At the 2008 E for All Expo, Lunceford and Wolters found success. Lunceford placed 4th in Carom3D, while Wolters took the Gold. In Red Stone, the duo swept group play, winning all three matches by a considerable margin. In the final, Lunceford and Wolters won a best of 3 series 2-0 to place 1st, and gain the chance to represent the USA in Cologne, Germany at the 2008 WCG Grand Final. In Cologne, the duo did not find as much success as they had previously, finishing 4th.
In 2009, WCG announced the change in format from 2v2 to 4v4, leaving Lunceford and Wolters scrambling to find 2 more players. The pair finally picked up Colin "SkylluszYn" Fogle, the 2008 Carom3D US Representative, and Sean "Wraith_zYn" Snack, another fellow Carom3D Player. After weeks of inconsistent practice, and the WCG US Final fast approaching, Matt "d00bi0us" Marcou, another Carom3D player was added as an alternate player. At the 2009 WCG US Final, with no word on a Red Stone qualfier, all but Fogle competed in Carom3D. Lunceford and Snack failed to make bracket play, while Marcou finished 4th, and Wolters repeated as Champion. That weekend an announcement was made for a last minute Red Stone qualifier. With Wolters ineligible to compete due to winning Carom3D, Marcou was called into the starting 4, with Wolters falling back into a coaching role. With the final lineup set, Cool Runnings competed in the online national qualifiers for Red Stone, and swept the field of teams to qualify for the 2009 WCG Grand Final as the USA Representative.
In the 2009 Grand Finals, the team faced off against the best in Asia as they tried to dethrone Comeonbaby, the 2008 champion. The team fought through group play, and in the semi-finals, lost to Japan in the final match in a best of 3, 20-19 to finish in third place.
Organization Beginnings
After the 2009 WCG Season, the team was cautious AbOUT what games to pursue since it was assumed Red Stone had seen it's last season in WCG. Lunceford, the team captain, was struggling to make a decision as to what he wanted to pursue in the new year. He got together with a few former staff members from his last team, vVv Gaming, and began to brainstorm IDeaS. They came up with the idea to create their own organization with a few fellow players. Lunceford enlisted the help of Justin "The Answer" Drago and Taylor "Nero" Shaw. It began as a small project that slowly grew to be a major project as they started to sign teams and bring many new recruits and sponsors in.
Lunceford then enlisted the help of coach Zach "zsta2k7" Wolters and also signed him on as the resident racing/Carom 3D player to help carry on the name Cool Runnings. They decided to name the organization Team cR, and began the journey to create a professional North American eSports association.
Current Teams
Gears of War
cR Get Bronco
Jon "Fallout" Kefaloukos
Brad "Damage" Willink
Tanner "Rain" Etheridge
Chris "Affinity" Curren
Racing/Sports
Zach "zsta2k7" Wolters
Alan "Versace" Powell
Jon "skootz" Lunceford
HaLo 3
cR Skyline
Fletcher "Fletch" Callum
Parker "Parker" Daniels
Greg "Snoopy" Press
Chris "Intensity" Holmes
Past Results
Red Stone
2008 WCG USA Online Qualifier (Lunceford, Wolters) - 2nd
2008 WCG USA Final (Lunceford, Wolters) - 1st
2008 WCG Grand Final (Lunceford, Wolters) - 4th
2009 WCG USA Online Final - 1st
2009 WCG Grand Final - 3rd
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009 WCG Holiday Heroes - 7th
Upcoming Events
2010 WCG Season