By Leah Veldhuisen ’19
The CC’s men’s ultimate Frisbee team is made up of a strong group of talented athletes, and this season they have big goals. The team is currently ranked in the top five teams nationally, and they hope to cement this status at the national tournament in May.
Last year, the team made it to the national competition and this season, they hope to place higher, making it to the national semi-final round. Grant Mitchell ’17 says they came into the season with “higher expectations than we have in a while.” This is principally due to the “large and talented” senior class, individuals who Mitchell describes as “important on the field and as emotional leaders for our team.” Despite these expectations and prior successes, Mitchell says the team reamains pleasantly surprised by how well they’ve been doing. He explains, “getting first place in a tournament and taking down our regional rival Air Force really showed us that we have a chance to make a run in the series this year.”
Even though the team is currently ranked third in Division III by the Ultiworld Ultimate Frisbee rankings, they have yet to qualify for the national tournament in Lexington, Kentucky, coming up May 20 and 21. Mitchell explains that “everything leading up to the series helps to earn bids for the region you are in.” Now the team has to play through sectionals, then regionals, and place top three in the region to move to nationals. Once there, the team is hoping for the accomplishment of making the semi-finals, and possibly going onto the finals.
Although this year’s senior class is strong, Mitchell expects the 2018 season to continue current successes. “We have a ton of super committed, motivated players who have begun to step into roles on the field that we hadn’t seen from them before,” Mitchell says. It won’t be a rebuilding year, and Mitchell sees no reason the team can’t compete on the national scale again.
They head to a competition in Tulsa, Oklahoma this weekend and then on to Kansas City the following weekend. Good luck!
