USA Ultimate

Mixed Division Central Regionals Recap

Three well-known teams CLX, Drag ‘N’ Thrust, and Overhaul won bids to Nationals out of the Mixed Central region, but the beautiful weekend in Milwaukee was not without a few surprises.

Seeding for the tournament presented several puzzles-- Nationals 2010 quarterfinalist Overhaul had suffered a Sectionals upset at the hands of Cincinnati’s Steamboat while Chicago Heavyweights semifinalist # ("Pound") had been forced to claw its way through the backdoor brackets to grab the 8th and final bid out of the Northwoods Section.  Ultimately, however, Regionals Coordinator Dave Klink solicited teams’ participation in creating what proved to be a very accurate seeding.

Bryan Gannon of NOISE guarding "Pepe" Iksnilpep of Skyway
[PHOTO CREDIT: David Hwang]
 

Saturday morning was clear with moderate wind.   Pool play began with several upsets—in pool A, the 4 seed # (14th overall) showed up hungry, notching a convincing win over the 2 seed Madison-based NOISE (8th overall).  # would continue to avenge their sectionals finish, taking out the 3 seed (11th overall) Plowed, and grabbing second in their pool.  In the C pool, the 4 seed (16th overall) Ibex scored a thrilling hard-capped victory over fellow Chicago-based team Gambit (6th seed overall) in the first round.   The top seeds held steady, recording comfortable wins until the third round of the day when a fired-up Gambit steadied their Saturday morning nerves to beat top-ranked Steamboat and win the C pool. 

The fourth round of the day saw crossover play to determine seeding in the championship and consolation brackets.  The 1 v 1 game between Nationals 2010 Semi-finalist Drag ‘n Thrust and Overhaul was hotly contested; the two teams traded offensive points through half before Drag ‘n pulled away with a series of breaks to a final score of 15-12.  Jeff Trosvig was a bedrock handler for the offense, winning back multiple discs for Drag ‘n with his defense and Mike Berseth created multiple big opportunities for Drag ‘n with his stingy handler defense.  In the other game between pool-play victors, 2010 World Mixed Champion, 2010 Nationals Semi-finalist and overall #1 seed The Chad Larson Experience (CLX) recorded a dominant win over Gambit, outscoring them 15-3.  Alongside Steamboat, Minneapolis teams Stud Muffin, #, and Minnesota Star Power all won their games comfortably to secure spots in the championship bracket.

Sunday dawned with a fog whiteout that reduced field visibility to 15 yards. The fog burned off and action began with a rematch of the East Plains/Michigan Sectionals game between Overhaul and Steamboat.  This time, Overhaul emerged the victor, stomping to a 15-6 victory.  The fired-up # took it to Drag ‘n Thrust, but was ultimately defeated 10-15.  With a 15-8 win over Gambit, Stud Muffin, a team whose oldest player can’t yet rent a car (23!), showed that their regular-season success was no fluke: they had come to play with the big kids.  

Anna Williams of Tron Paul and the Gold Standard breaking an Ibex cup [PHOTO CREDIT: David Hwang]

CLX had cruised into the semi-finals—no opponent had grabbed more than 6 points since the beginning of the tournament.  However, in the semi-finals game they faced a vindicated Overhaul team that blazed to a 3-0 lead.  CLX fought back to 3-3, but Overhaul answered with another 4-1 run, bringing the game to 7-4.  CLX was drew upon their, err, experience, the stingy and consistent defense of Doug and Steph Jacobs, stellar downfield play of first-year player Zach Eastlund, and the perennial endzone dominance of the Sheldahl sisters Amy and Rachel to mount a 4-point comeback to take half and maintain their momentum through the second half to close the game 15-8.

The other semi-final was similarly contested, featuring a Minneapolis showdown between youth and experience.   The tight-knit Drag ‘n Thrust team, built from the top mixed talent in the Twin Cities boasts a roster that includes veterans of such mixed teams as Flaming Moe, Alpha Cobra Squadron and ICE.  The younger, athletic and scrappy Stud Muffin team, played evenly with the favored Drag ‘n Thrust for much of the game.  Behind the highlight-reel defense of Eric VanderMolen and the game-stopping playmaking of Brian Schoenrock, the young Studs took the game to 10-11 before Drag ‘n pulled away to end the game 14-11 and clinched a bid to nationals.   

The finals featured the anticipated marquee matchup between Drag ‘n Thrust and CLX.  The teams had met three times over the course of the season, with Drag ‘n winning twice at the Minnesota Ultimate Disc Invitational in July and CLX emerging victorious in the finals at the more recent Chicago Heavyweights.  CLX led for most of the game, their play highlighted by the completion of a "greatest" thrown by a diving Kurt Brorsen and caught by Joe Brisbois.  Speedy and tireless Drag ‘n Thrust cutter Christie Dosch continued to dominate downfield and Jaime Glader supplied huge puts and receptions to cap a strong weekend.  CLX eventually closed out the game 15-10 to earn the regional championship and the first bid to nationals.  

The 3rd place game-to-go featured Overhaul and Stud Muffin, both had climbed their way through the backdoor bracket to this game after semi-finals losses.  Overhaul, led by the smothering blocks of Aaron Ziegler and the dynamic cutting of Stephanie Kotsiris, got up early and stayed out in front to take the game 15-9 and the final bid to nationals. 

Aaron VanderMorlen laying out against Drag'n Thrust
[PHOTO CREDIT: David Hwang]

CLX, Drag ‘n Thrust, and Overhaul will represent the Central Region in this year’s Mixed National Championships and vie for a spot at the upcoming World Championships in Japan.  As Overhaul captain Colin McIntyre summed it up, "Nationals has the best of everything.  The best fields, the best setup, the best competition, top observing crews, and a fantastic location.  I cannot think of anything I'd rather do than take a few days off of work to hang out in Florida with a few dozen friends and play the most competitive Ultimate we've played all season." Congratulations to all the Central Region teams!