Elmhurst University marketing major Joseph Liebrandt ’27 recently took first place in the Spring 2026 Bluejay Tank competition for his Recruit Match app, aimed at linking high school athletes with college coaches.
Liebrandt, a student-athlete from Union, Illinois, won $4,000 for his app, which was designed to democratize college recruitment by helping high school athletes connect directly with coaches through a professional, free-to-use platform.
Inspired by the television show Shark Tank, Bluejay Tank is a showcase of creative entrepreneurial ideas conceived and pitched by students. The Spring 2026 competition featured seven pitches from nine contestants, who were judged on criteria including first impressions, pitch content and delivery, incorporation of a digital element, and how confidently and competently the contestants answered judges’ questions.
The judging panel included James Drury, a veteran entrepreneur and national leader in auction education and professional training; Tom Hodge, entrepreneur and representative of Farr and Swit, LLC, an Elmhurst-based high-end watch company that is a competition sponsor; Paul Kiser, an experienced entrepreneur specializing in gaming, and a history working with health care-related companies; and Angelina Rodriguez ’26, alumna and entrepreneur, who was a third-place winner in the Spring 2025 competition.
The competition continues to grow in popularity and visibility, drawing entries from a diverse range of majors and backgrounds. Patrick Yanahan, director of the Jans Family STM Internship Program and E-celerator executive in residence, said that this, the sixth Bluejay Tank competition, was the biggest in program history, with more than 30 initial applicants.
First-place winner Liebrandt, a Bluejay football player who aims to someday coach the sport, hopes his app will be helpful to both potential student-athletes and coaches during the recruiting process. “I know me, going into coaching, it’s definitely something I’m going to utilize in the future as well,” he says.
Other winning Bluejays included the team of computer science major Leena Nawaz ’27, from Lombard, Illinois, and marketing major Elizabeth Acevedo ’27, from Schaumburg, Illinois, who won a second-place prize of $3,000 for Ivory Collective, an AI-powered event planning assistant. The third-place prize of $1,000 was awarded to MBA student Malika Khikmatillaeva ’27, from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for her AI-powered mobile app for legal advice, Case Cloud Solutions.
Events like the Bluejay Tank Pitch Competition reflect Elmhurst University’s commitment to providing students with hands-on, real-world learning opportunities, and to supporting student innovators with funding and mentorship as they prepare for careers or whatever comes next.