USA Ultimate

Day 1 of Grand Masters and Masters Women's Championships in the Books

The 2010 USA Ultimate Grand Masters and Masters Women’s Championships started today in Boulder, Colo. The 26 teams were met with beautiful weather as they started pool play on the fields of the Pleasant View Sports Fields Complex, all competing for titles and the right to call themselves the best in their respective divisions…

After a full day – nearly 10 hours of competition – here are some highlights and observations from pool play and crossover matches from Saturday’s action.

 

-          Mojo 2.0 brought a small amount of players to the event and in their first game of the day; the small squad could not find a tremendous amount of connection with each other. Crack’d’s Katie Ulrich started the game against Mojo by getting a hand block. Crack’d was able to continue a hard play against MOJO with the help of Shelly Su and Ulrich ending the game with a 15-4 victory.

 

-          Dirty XXX faced off against the Safari-tarians in the first round. The Safari-tarians’ Deg Schecter had an unfortunate bobble on her teams’ end zone. The team was able regain its composure and eventually held its own as Jennifer Sanderson scored five goals leading her team to a 14-5 victory.

-          Nice Guys went up against Burnside in their first round game. The two teams started off pretty close, until the Nice Guys started to get a nice flow on the field and took an 8-3 halftime lead. Burnside was able to score two more points on Nice Guys until falling 15-5

 

-          Big Sky Grand and Moscow State found themselves in a game of small up the field passes, whereas Age Against the Machine and Ozark Hillbillys started their first round with a hucking game. Ozark had good deep field coverage including outstanding play by Trey Marley. Todd Erickson was Ozark’s big scorer, helping his team pull out a 12-10 win over the Cincinnati-based squad.

 

-          Old and In the Way were able to capitalize on first round opponent Thirst’N’Howl’s mistakes and control the game. This included a spectacular layout final score by Old’s Geir Kvaran bringing the team to a 15-4 victory over Thirst.

 

-          Surly and Sick Hammers had a tight first half, and both teams were able to pick up their intensity after the break. Some highlights were Sick Hammers’ Jimmy Moore’s amazing face block; taking the disc right on his cheek bone, while Surly’s Sam LaBrie had a nice D in Sick Hammers’ end zone. Both teams had problems putting the disc into their respected end zones, but Surly’s Mark Houska made sure to put his team on the board with consecutive scores, winning the game 12-8 in soft cap.

 

-          Well Done was able to use the whole field against Retro. The handlers successfully swung the disc between them and worked up the field multiple times. Well Done’s Jana Krutsinger was able to make a lot of noise in the team’s end zone with three assists and three goals. They were no match for Retro and won the game 15-5.

 

-          Old Scores to Settle and Las Rucas played their game to universe point. Old Scores came out throwing a zone which Las Rucas patiently worked up the field, but were pushed back by the aggressive cup and Jayde Prudden ended up getting the D. The two teams battled with each other for some time until Natalie Smith came down with the disc to seal Old Scores to Settle’s 11-10 victory.

-          Sick Hammers and Old and In the Way spent the first half of the second round trading points. But in the end, Old and In the Way took off and Sick Hammers was unable to hold on. Old and In the Way took the final 14-5.

 

-          Throwback and Ball & Chain faced off in the second round. Kai Bune had a lot of nice pulls for his Throwback team, including one that was in the back of the end zone and had lots of hang time to let his team get in place. Throwback’s Darren Byle almost got two Callahans, but had to settle for the assists, helping his team to a 12-11 victory.

 

-          Ozark Hillbillys broke out the hammers in their game against Moscow State, with Philip Watson and Wayne Ramsey able to throw hammers break side. The team was also able to shred Moscow’s zone for an 11-6 victory.

 

 

 

-          The wind provided for some interesting action on the women’s side and several marathon points. Las Rucas and Top Shelf found themselves tied at 8 when the wind picked up. The two teams threw zone and struggled tremendously. Several players tried for hucks over the cup, but the wind would not go for it. With the calm playing of Top Shelf’s Rebecca Turnbow and Karen Johnson, and several risk breaks through the cup, Chris O’Cleary was able to find Turnbow in the end zone ending the point. After that, Top Shelf was able to conquer the wind and win 11-9.

 

-          On the next field over, Retro and Old Scores to Settle found themselves in the same position as Las Rucas and Top Shelf. Retro’s game point turned into a free for all due to the wind. The two teams switched between trying a long game and short game but the wind impacted all of their plays. The wind did help Old Scores’ Jenny Makosky come up with a back block. In the end, Meredith Neiss came up with the Retro score, sending both teams into celebration with the 15-5 Retro win.

 

 

-          Thirst’N’Howl started its third game out slowly, but they were able to pick up the pace against their Sick Hammers opponents. Both teams had active and loud sidelines that were able to give a lot of talk and help to their teammates on the field. Thirst’N’Howl standout, Carlie Schubert, was his teams high scorer including an upwind Callahan. But in the end, their slow start hurt them as Sick Hammers took the final 15-9.

 

-          In Pool A, Nice Guys and DoG faced off in the third round. Nice Guys’ Mike Blackard scored his team’s first point with a hammer. The team had a lot of small passes and movement up the field, but in the end the defense of James Johnston and DoG sealed the game with a 15-9 win.

 

-          In the middle of Round 3, the wind picked up and Rigor More Disc took the opportunity to throw a zone against Burnside. But Burnside was not thrown, and was able to make a lot of small movements up the field and a lot of swinging between the handlers. But in the end, Burnside’s turns added up and they fell to Rigor 14-6.

 

 

 

-          Shelly Su, from Crack’d, showed her dominant handling skills in Crack’d’s fourth-round game against Hot Flash, getting five assists. She was closely followed by Katie Ulrich who got four and a layout catch during the game. Hot Flash’s Keida Klingmueller also made a spectacular layout grab for her team. But in the end, Su and Ulrich lead their team to a 13-8 victory.

 

 

-          Age Against the Machine faced up against Moscow State in the fourth round and still had a lot of wind to deal with. But the wind helped Age’s John Osterman rack up the D’s for his team. But Moscow’s Sanjeev Khanna’s hucks were huge in the 13-8 Moscow victory.

 

-          Yomo Fog Oho came out at the start of their game to capture the first three points against Ball & Chain. But then Ball responded by going on a four-point run and took half 8-6. Yomo Fog Oho tried to run a zone on the Ball & Chain, but in the end, Ball & Chain took the final 11-9 in front of a large crowd.

 

 

-          Safari-tarians decided to run a lot of zone against Crack’d in the final round. But Crack’d’s handlers had no problem throwing risky breaks right through the middle of the cup, making the Safari-tarians’ cup do a lot of running. And on D, Kathy Heyman of Crack’d, was able to make a huge layout against her opponent. Towards the end of the game, Safari-tarians’ Janie Marr was able to make a huge layout grab at a hammer throw. That helped rally her team to a 12-7 win.

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-          Local team’s Dirty XXX and Hot Flash faced off in the final round of the day, but Dirty XXX was showing their exhaustion. The Dirty XXX tried to throw a zone on the Hot Flashes but the ladies were able to set up good flow with their handlers and swing the disc gently up the field, but they had a lot of problems on the end zone. But in the end, Hot Flash was able to overcome their problems and win 10-4 in soft cap.

 

 

-          In the first crossover match for the Grand Masters, Surly faced off against Rigor More Disc.  Surly used the game to work on some unique throws including a completed chick wing pass by Greg Williams as well as several hammer throws. Rigor was able to come up with several D’s against the team, including big ones by Tim Eubanks, but in the end Surly came up victorious with a 15-3 ending.

 

-          Nice Guys found themselves up against Sick Hammers. The Nice Guys found themselves getting a lot of D’s and being able to capitalize on it. But Sick Hammers would not roll over, and Dwight Monteith got a nice layout grab. But in the end, the turns were the death of Sick Hammers, who lost 15-6.