Fungai Jani ’24 placed in top three in Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Hackathon

Fungai Jani ’24, majoring in business economics and statistical and data sciences at The College of Wooster, was a top three finalist in the open division of the 11^th Annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Hackathon on Feb. 29-March 1 in Boston.

Jani, who has a passion for sports analytics, and his teammate, Brendan McKearney of Indiana University, competed in the open division rather than the student division. They had six hours to submit deliverables for the given prompt and two minutes to present their findings. A panel of judges rated the contestants on creativity, functionality, originality, and innovativeness of submissions. As a top three finalist team at the end of the first day, Jani’s team was selected to present its results the during the sports analytics conference.

Each year, the Hackathon brings together innovative and analytical minds to create groundbreaking solutions in the sports industry. Ticketmaster presented this year’s event that was attended by industry experts and peers in the sports industry. The theme of the conference was “Power of Sports.” Jani experienced the power of sports during the competition and conference and was amazed to see how advanced analytics are in sports.

“Being a finalist as a student in the open division was definitely surprising to many, as we made our presentation,” he said. The team’s success led to many conversations and connections with individuals at well-known firms.  “The conference was a great way to learn more about the sports analytics industry. I recommend students attend conferences of interest to them and participate in any competition they can to showcase their talent,” Jani said.

Featured photo: At the Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Hackathon, Fungai Jani ’24 (right) connected with Jesse Marsch, a longtime soccer coach in Major League Soccer and Premier League, and Femi Adeniran (left), a student from Oklahoma University.

Posted in News on April 24, 2024.