Norwich student Excel Team wins, advances to championship in Las Vegas

The Lasky School of Business at Norwich University is proud to announce that the Norwich student Excel eSports team earned first place in the September Battle of the prestigious Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge. With this victory, the team advances to the Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge Championship, to be held Dec. 1–3, 2025, at the HyperX Arena in Las Vegas.

The global competition brings together top student talent from around the world to test advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel through case studies, real-world problem solving, and data analysis. 

“This opportunity underscores our commitment to experiential learning,” said Director Seth Soman, of the William Lasky School of Business. “Proficiency in advanced Excel is an essential skill in the field of finance, and being recognized among the top users is a distinguished achievement. I am proud that our students are not only developing this critical expertise but also finding the process rewarding.”

Norwich’s performance not only secured the top overall team ranking in the September competition but also highlighted the individual achievements of three students. These standout competitors represent the diverse strengths of Norwich’s student body, excelling both academically and athletically.

• Nikita Ponomarenko — 3rd place. Ponomarenko, a senior from Mariupol, Ukraine, is a double major in international business and management with a financial economics concentration. Additionally, he is also a member of Norwich’s three-time Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) champion men’s swim and dive team. He has earned GNAC Academic All-Conference honors and was named to the Spring 2025 Dean’s List.
• Owen Hains — 12th place. A double major in accounting and management, Hains is a senior from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and is also a goalie for the nationally competitive Cadet men’s ice hockey team. In Spring 2025, he was awarded the Presidential Scholar from the Lasky School of Business.
• Harris Hilfiker — 16th place. Hilfiker, a junior from Middletown, New Jersey, is a triple major in accounting, management with financial economics concentration, and computer security and information assurance. Like Hains, he is also a member of the Cadet men’s ice hockey team. In Spring 2025, he was named to the President’s List at Norwich for achieving a perfect 4.0 GPA for the semester.

“This team has been working hard all year to develop their Excel capabilities, and it is wonderful to see their efforts and determination paying off,” said Coach Fritz Burkhardt, who is also a professor of finance.

The December championship will feature 16 teams from Australia, Colombia, India, Madagascar, South Africa, and the United States competing in the semi-final round on Dec. 2. Teams will be challenged in timed rounds designed to test speed, accuracy, modeling, data manipulation, visualization, and logic in Excel.

The Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge (MECC), created in collaboration with the Financial Modeling World Cup (FMWC), is a rapidly growing Excel eSports event for college and university students worldwide. Since its launch, the competition has become a global stage for developing and showcasing advanced skills in Excel, data modeling, and analytical problem solving.