USA Ultimate

The defending World and National Champions had a rough go of it at the Pro Flight Finale. Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust left Washington with a 2-4 record and a sixth-place finish. Meanwhile, Drag’n’s fellow Worlds finalists, the San Francisco Polar Bears, found themselves in the finals against the only team in the division who had managed to make it to the last round of the weekend still undefeated, the Chad Larson Experience. As usual, CLX’s season has included many notable results. They just can’t seem to break through the Polar Bears. CLX has lost only four games this season; three of those losses came at the hands (claws?) of the Polar Bears.

The final Worlds representative that also make the trip to Washington, Wild Card, was among the "tough weekend" pack, as well. They were the only team to go 0-3 on Saturday, but they did manage a 12-10 victory over AMP in the seventh-place game to close out their weekend with one mark in the win column.

Worlds hangovers were a common topic of conversation in the lead up to the Pro Flight Finale, and the weekend’s results certainly seem to lend some credence to the theory in all three divisions, but particularly in mixed. The Polar Bears seem to have been the lone exception to that rule. While the Polar Bears went 5-1 over the course of the weekend, the other two mixed division Worlds teams (Drag’n Thrust, Wild Card) went a combined 3-9.

But despite the poor performances of the Worlds teams, the biggest surprise of the weekend may have been Mischief. They’ve been a stalwart in the mixed division and the top half of Nationals finishers through most of the last decade, but last year in Frisco, the San Franciscans finished tied for ninth. Although still a strong performance by most standards, it wasn’t what the veteran squad had in mind when the season started. But they’re back this year and added to their already strong season at the Pro Flight Finale. By the time the weekend was over, they had tallied wins over three of last year’s semifinalists: Wild Card, Polar Bears and Drag’n Thrust. All three teams were also semifinalists at the U.S. Open earlier this year. Heading into the postseason and sectional and regional competition, Mischief’s win over the Polar Bears may prove the most significant; it was their first win over a fellow California team since their first two games of the season. Luckily for all the mixed teams in the Southwest, the region came away with five bids to Nationals. If all goes to plan, that’s one for each of the five Southwest teams in the top 10 of the final regular-season rankings, including Mischief.

No matter the impressiveness of Mischief’s weekend, the Polar Bears win clinched them the top spot in the mixed division rankings, usurping Drag’n Thrust from the number one spot just in time to keep alive their chance of winning the Triple Crown. Since they already won the U.S. Open title back in July, and they’ve now sewn up the second leg with the regular-season championship title, all that’s left is the National Championship title in October. Since their formation in 2010, the Polar Bears have been around come Sunday at Nationals every year, but they’ve only claimed one championship so far. It came in their first year. Maybe 2014 is finally ripe for a repeat.

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