ESF’s Oakie the Acorn Enters SUNY’s Mascot Madness

03/16/2015

SYRACUSE — Oakie the Acorn, the mascot of ESF's Mighty Oaks athletic teams, is one of 40 SUNY mascots competing in SUNY's Third Annual Mascot Madness beginning March 16.

The online contest pits SUNY mascots against each other in a standard single-elimination bracket of four divisions, organized into New York regions, with five rounds. The bracket can be viewed http://blog.suny.edu/mascot-madness-2015/

Forty SUNY campuses representing more than 650 athletic teams and more than 360,000 students are competing for the title of New York's favorite SUNY mascot.

ESF's Oakie is going up against Ulster Community College and SUNY Delhi when voting begins at noon March 16.

The competition includes five rounds of voting and runs through April 8. The winning college will take home the traveling Mascot Madness trophy from SUNY.

Last year, Oakie defeated mascots from SUNY Delhi and Erie Community College to advance to Round 2. However, Oakie fell to New Paltz's Hugo the Hawk in the second round of competition.

The competition is based on a series of questions posed to the mascots prior to the tournament including mascots' origin stories; SUNY rivalries; favorite events, the best part about being from New York; and dream travel destination.

Seed rankings are based on the number of teams that represent a particular campus, with enrollment data used to break any ties. Oakie currently represents nine men's and women's teams in ESF's growing athletics program.

The intercollegiate athletics program at ESF can trace its roots all the way back to 1912, the second year of the college's existence, when students organized a Forestry Club on campus that has sponsored an intercollegiate timber sports team every year since.

Today, students can compete on several ESF intercollegiate athletic teams, including soccer, golf, cross country, timber sports (Woodsmen's Team), basketball and track. The Mighty Oaks are a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association.

You can follow Oakie on Twitter at @ESFOakie and on Facebook at Oakie Acorn.