By: Guilherme Name, Mizzou Esports Blog
Connor “Conch” Aoun’s Sentinel and Duelist consistently delivered 1.3+ ratings throughout Spring 2023 College VALORANT: Championship, earning him a spot back alongside the rest of the roster. 

Born and raised in St. Louis, Aoun was no stranger to Mizzou. He knew multiple people who attended the college, including his own father. After touring the campus in high school, he decided it was the  perfect match for him, mentioning how alive the campus feels like. At the time of his enrollment, in Fall 2020, he had already played competitive CS:GO in the ESEA League ecosystem. With the launch of Valorant rocketing the North American CS:GO scene, Aoun saw an opportunity at the Mizzou Premier team. 

“I took a break [from Valorant] for about 6 months after the beta, but came back when I saw Mizzou had a team,” said Aoun.

His CS:GO competitiveness translated to Valorant since the early days. But in his free time, Aoun plays another Riot game, Teamfight Tactics. 

“It’s just a chill game that I can play while listening to music. It’s a nice change of pace from the competitive nature of Valorant,” said Aoun.

Aoun helped the team secure a solid top-6 at last season’s Collegiate Valorant Championship, beating the likes of University of Texas at Dallas and Southern New Hampshire University. The latter could only sit and watch as he left an impressive 1.40 rating across two maps. Aoun believes the team can repeat the result this season, and said he’s excited to play Maryville University’s new team. 

“It will be fun to play them since they are so close by,” said Aoun.

He believes a “relaxed approach” is behind the team’s recent results and wants to carry that lesson into the new semester. For him that looks like a break  with Teamfight Tactics and music. 

“Last semester we made sure to have fun and that was one of our strengths,” said Aoun. “When you put too much pressure on yourself it only hurts your performance.”