William Penn Showcases New Technology during Heart of America Athletic Conference Wrestling Championship

William Penn University (WPU) hosted the annual Heart of America Athletic Conference Wrestling Championship on Saturday, February 16. The Athletic Department partnered with Musco Lighting company and the Digital Communication Program to produce a prestigious and elite athletic experience.

“We want to be a leader in small-time college athletics and in order to do that, we have to do uncommon things,” said WPU Athletic Director Nik Rule.

The event served as a perfect opportunity for the University to utilize its new Production Truck software and streaming service powered by BlueFrame technology. WPU’s Penn Activity Center (PAC) is home to Musco’s newest LED lighting and remote video production system.

“The project is a combination of a partnership with Musco and William Penn with athletics and the Digital Communication program,” said Doug Hoskins, an MCG representative and WPU Digital Communication instructor. “Musco has a showcase of LED lighting that they like to do to show prospective clients…and it’s not just the LED lighting, there are twelve 4K cameras around the PAC, plus a PTZ camera used for remote video production.”

This advanced technology helped the University broadcast the event over five different streams: a live stream for each of the four mats and then a “show stream” that moved on the floor with live match commentary and updates.

Streaming the event online was ideal for wrestlers who aren’t from the Midwest area. When asked what it meant for the event to be streamed so that family could watch, senior WPU wrestler and Georgia native, Tyshon Cannon said, “It means a lot.”

Founding partner of BlueFrame Technology, Darren Brown, was impressed by the video quality and praised the production as a whole.

“The level of coverage you provided here is pretty groundbreaking for the NAIA space and really all the way up through NCAA DII and DI, outside of the power five conferences,” Brown said.

William Penn Athletics is seeking to use the same technology in the future to host volleyball, softball, and basketball events.

“We’ve put in a bid to host the softball championships starting next year[…]we’re going to host the JV women’s volleyball championships next year and then at some point after men’s volleyball gets started, we’d like to potentially host the men’s volleyball championships,” Rule said.

An estimated 500 people attended the event, while over 500 unique streams were accessed online.

To view the archived recording from the 2018-19 Heart of America Athletic Conference Wrestling Championship, visit StatesmenAthletics.com. For tournament results, visit StatesmenAthletics.com.

 

For more information, contact:

Miranda Keeler
Marketing & Communication Manager
641-6731078 | keelerm@wmpenn.edu