At 56 hours, most people would be hallucinating from sleep deprivation. Jeffrey Lange and his teammates, Kevin Shu, William Scott, Liam Allen, Adam Stanifer and Wesley Carlstrom at Colorado State University Pueblo were methodically solving their final cybersecurity challenges, checking and rechecking answers with the kind of precision that separates fourth place from first.

When the results came in from the National Cyber League Fall (NCL) 2025 competition, the CSU Pueblo CyberWolves Red Team had done something no other team in the country managed: they achieved full completion. Out of more than 400 university teams and 10,000 competitors, they stood alone at the top of the standard leaderboard, edging out the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, UC Berkeley, the College of William and Mary, and San Diego State University.

For Lange, a senior cybersecurity major and team captain, the victory represented the culmination of a three-year climb. The team had missed out on getting a trophy in the spring 2025 season, according to Lange. This time, they changed their strategy.

“It’s been something I’ve been working toward and manifesting for the past three years,” Lange said. “What made it possible was being part of a team that was just as driven and willing to push through the full 56-hour grind.”

The secret weapon? Sleep.

In previous competitions, team members would push through exhaustion, convinced that more hours meant better results. This year, Lange insisted everyone get a full night’s rest during the marathon event. The decision seemed counterintuitive. While other teams burned through the night, the CyberWolves went to bed.

“It’s really critical to get a good night’s sleep. I can’t stress that enough,” Lange said.

With rested minds, the team’s accuracy climbed to 96.4 percent. Team members worked remotely, coordinating through Discord and Trello, delegating tasks with the kind of efficiency that comes from trust built over years of competition. Kevin Shu, a junior studying computer science and math at CU Boulder who competed with CSU Pueblo through a NCL provision, watched the numbers climb as they closed in on full completion.

“I was not expecting us to be the only team to do full completion. It definitely surprised me quite a lot that we were able to go that far,” Shu said.

The NCL competition tests students on real-world cybersecurity challenges, the kind of problems they’ll face when defending networks and systems in government agencies and private companies. Teams tackle cryptography, password cracking, network traffic analysis, web application security, and digital forensics. The competition runs twice a year, and this fall’s event drew teams from institutions with cybersecurity programs far larger and better funded than CSU Pueblo’s.

That the CyberWolves won at all seems improbable. CSU Pueblo is a regional university with fewer than 4,000 students in southern Colorado, rather than a research institution with extensive labs and corporate partnerships. The Computer Information Systems program recently saw its state funding slashed from $200,000 to $50,000 annually. Still, the program holds a distinction that matters: it’s designated an NSA Center of Academic Excellence, a recognition given to fewer than 200 institutions nationwide.

The team’s makeup reflects both the university’s scrappy character and the inclusive nature of competitive cybersecurity. Lange took all his classes remotely, a non-traditional student balancing work and school. Adam Stanifer joined after Lange recruited him, initially unsure if he could keep pace with more experienced competitors.

“I was blessed to have been offered a spot on the CSUP Redteam. Little did I know that we would be the most competitive team out there,” Stanifer said by email.

The collaborative ethos runs through everything the team does. They train together, running intensive post-competition analysis sessions where they dissect what worked and what didn’t. They share techniques and tools. When one person gets stuck on a challenge, others jump in to help troubleshoot.

For Wesley Carlstrom, a senior CIS major, the competition served as a bridge between classroom theory and professional practice. The challenges mimic what cybersecurity professionals face daily, and solving them under time pressure builds the kind of confidence hard to teach. Carlstrom described watching his skills develop through each competition cycle, seeing abstract concepts from lectures become concrete tools he could deploy in real time.

“I definitely feel ready for what will come at me in the workforce after I graduate,” Carlstrom said.

Carlstrom and his teammates knew they were competing against students from institutions with far more resources, with labs and equipment that CSU Pueblo couldn’t match. Yet they held their own, and then surpassed everyone. That kind of validation changes how you see yourself professionally, Carlstrom added. You stop wondering if you’re good enough and start knowing you are.

The win reverberates beyond the five students on the Red Team. Enrollment in CSU Pueblo’s CIS program has surged. Roberto Mejias’s classes now have waiting lists, something that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago. Prospective students see the national ranking and recognize that a smaller program can offer something large universities sometimes can’t: close mentorship and hands on training.

Mejias, who coaches the CyberWolves alongside fellow professor James “Jim” Quintana, wasn’t surprised by the outcome.

He sees the program’s trajectory continuing upward, with the team’s success opening doors for students that extend beyond traditional tech industry jobs.

“I won’t be surprised if any of our Red Team get some inquiries from DOD (Department of Defense) intelligence agencies,” Mejias said.

The program is also adapting to the rapidly changing technology landscape by integrating artificial intelligence into its curriculum, ensuring students graduate with skills that match what employers need now, not five years ago.

The victory positions the CyberWolves as the team to beat in future competitions. In cybersecurity, where David versus Goliath stories play out in code and digital forensics rather than on battlefields, the CyberWolves proved that determination and smart strategy still matter most.