HAYS, Kan. -- March Madness is a time-honored tradition for college basketball fans throughout the world. To create a fun-filled competition among 6,000 online students, Fort Hays State University presented the first Virtual College Basketball Challenge.

With upsets taking place left and right, it was not a good year for most tournament brackets. Even with upsets, Virtual College students at FHSU had great luck when it came to March Madness. Lester Peak, Kirwin freshman, not only won first in the FHSU group but won fourth in the nation. Peak's strategy was to randomly choose higher seeds, thinking that the experts knew more about these teams than he did.

"Boy, was I wrong," said Peak.

Luckily, he managed to pick a few higher seeds that were actually successful throughout the tournament.

Morag Polaski, Richlands, N.C., graduate student, won second in the FHSU group and managed to tie for ninth in the nation. Polaski had no strategy to choosing the winning teams.

"To be quite honest, I really don't follow basketball at all," she said. "I picked my bracket by sheer good luck."

The FHSU Virtual College Basketball Challenge was a great success and students enjoyed the social opportunity. To keep students engaged throughout March Madness, a series of contests took place where participants could win a variety of prizes donated by the Virtual College.

Prizes went out to the individual who lived the farthest distance from Hays (Swanville, Maine), those with the best team name, the best quote, and more. Prizes were also given out at the end of the tournament to those lucky ones who finished in the top 15.

"March Madness was a lot of fun and a great opportunity for us as a college to do something social together," said Polaski.

For more information on the Virtual College, visit the Web site at http://www.fhsu.edu/virtualcollege.