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USA Ultimate Announces First ACE Program Honorees

Posted: July 14, 2016 09:51 AM
 

Colorado Springs, Colo. (July 14, 2016) – USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States and proud member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, is excited to announce the first programs accepted into the Achieving College Excellence (ACE) Program.

Earlier this year, USA Ultimate announced the launch of the ACE Program. The initiative was created to help recognize and incentivize growth and sustainability of college ultimate programs based on team development and alignment with the three Cs of USA Ultimate’s mission: Character, Community and Competition. 

The ACE Program includes recognition at four different levels: Five Star, Four Star, Three Star and Honorable Mention. Each level aligns with a unique set of benefits from Breakmark and USA Ultimate, including merchandise discounts, swag, public recognition and more.

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Five programs have been recognized at the five-star level for 2016:

  • California (women’s)

  • Case Western Reserve (men’s)

  • Florida State (men’s)

  • St. Olaf (women’s)

  • Wooster (men’s)


Each of the five-star programs demonstrates characteristics such as sustainable leadership, community outreach, relationships with opposite gender teams as well as other club sports at their universities, and continued competitive excellence. The teams all consciously give back to their university communities and their communities at large each year: hosting and or/ volunteering at learn to play clinics, participating in campus-wide outreach programs, performing community service, hosting alumni events and more. Spirit of the Game was also considered in the evaluation process. Florida State and St. Olaf each won their division’s Team Spirit Award at this year’s D-I and D-III College Championships, respectively, and the 2016 Callahan Award Winner in the women’s division, Marisa Rafter, was one of California’s captains this past year.

 

The evaluation process was designed to highlight programs that: 

  • embody the three Cs of USA Ultimate’s mission: Character, Community and Competition; 

  • participate in and/or host USA Ultimate events;

  • are involved with promotion the sport; 

  • achieve competitive excellence;

  • empower young leadership to help sustain and pass down information year after year; and

  • maintain strong team leadership, including coaching at all team levels. 


After taking into account the criteria above, the following programs were selected as ACE Program honorees for 2016. 

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Four Star

Case Western (W)

Indiana Wesleyan (M)

North Carolina State (W)

South Carolina (M)

Wisconsin-La Crosse (M)

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Three Star

Arizona State (W)

Michigan Tech (M)

Nevada (M)

North Carolina State (M)

Honorable Mention

Cornell (W)

East Carolina (M)

Messiah (M)

Miami (Florida) (M)

Oklahoma State (M)

SUNY-Oneonta (M)

Syracuse (W)

Yale (M)

 

Congratulations to all the teams selected as ACE Program honorees for 2016!

For more information about the ACE Program and to learn about all the benefits that come with each level of recognition, visit usaultimate.org/college/ace.aspx. 

Have any questions or comments? We welcome community feedback and discussion made in a respectful manner. Please refrain from profanity or personal attacks, as such public comments negatively reflect on our sport and community.