USA Ultimate Announces 2016 College Championships Bid Allocations
Posted: April 7, 2016 11:58 PM
Massachusetts, British Columbia Take Top Spots in Final Regular Season D-I Rankings; John Brown, Mount Holyoke Top D-III
Colorado Springs, Colo. (April 7, 2016) – USA Ultimate today announced regional bid allocation for its two national championship tournaments next month and released the final 2016 college regular season rankings.
In the Division I rankings, the University of Massachusetts and the University of British Columbia ended the season ranked number one in the men’s and women’s divisions respectively.
Massachusetts earned its number-one ranking with an 18-2 record through three of the college division’s biggest tournaments, which included a semifinals berth at the Stanford Invite, a finals berth at Queen City Tune-Up and a tournament title at College Easterns. Massachusetts has sat in the number one spot in the men’s division for each of the last three weeks.
Massachusetts led the rankings ahead of Wisconsin (19-3), Minnesota (22-3), Oregon (28-1) and North Carolina (10-3).
British Columbia finished the season with an 11-3 record, which included a third-place finish at the Stanford Invite and 6-1 record at the Northwest Challenge. In a reversal of last year’s end of regular season rankings, the strength of British Columbia’s wins was just enough to hold off Oregon (25-4), who sits in the second overall spot, despite earning a 2-1 record against British Columbia this year.
British Columbia and Oregon completed the regular season ahead of Stanford (23-6), Whitman (15-4), and Central Florida (22-6).
In the Division III rankings – for institutions with enrollment of fewer than 7,500 students – John Brown University (Siloam Springs, Ark.) and Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, Mass.) ended the season ranked number one in the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively.
John Brown topped the rankings in their first iteration in early March and did not relinquish the spot through the end of the regular season. They compiled a 9-3 record and reached the semifinals in both of their two tournaments. Nearly all their wins on the season came against Division I schools.
Rounding out the top five of the men’s D-III rankings were Indiana Wesleyan University (11-2), University of Richmond (18-3), Valparaiso University (18-2), and Univeristy of North Carolina-Asheville (13-7).
Mount Holyoke did not appear in the rankings until week four, thanks to two late-season tournaments. But they put together a 10-1 record with some strong wins over fellow D-III schools through those two tournaments to take the number one overall spot in the final regular season rankings.
Williams College (15-4), Truman State University (10-9), St. Olaf College (10-3) and Carleton College-Eclipse (14-5) completed the women’s D-III top five.
With the 2016 college regular season rankings finalized, the nearly 800 teams that play in USA Ultimate’s college championship series now turn their focus to the postseason and qualifying for one of two national championship events – the 2016 College Championships, May 27-30, in Raleigh, N.C., or the Division III College Championships, May 21-22, in Winston-Salem, N.C.
These final rankings determined how many bids each region receives to both championship events.
Those bids include:
USA Ultimate College Championships – May 27-30 – Raleigh, N.C.
Men: Northwest: (3), North Central: (3), Southeast: (3), Atlantic Coast: (2), New England: (2), Ohio Valley: (2), South Central: (2), Great Lakes: (1), Metro East: (1), Southwest: (1). *
* Update 4/8/2016: the men's D-I nationals bids have been adjusted
Women: Northwest: (5), Southwest: (4), South Central: (3), Ohio Valley: (2), Atlantic Coast: (1), Great Lakes: (1), Metro East: (1), North Central: (1), Southeast: (1), Southwest: (1).
USA Ultimate Division III College Championships – May 21-22 – Winston-Salem, N.C.
Men: Great Lakes: (3), South Central: (3), Atlantic Coast: (2), New England: (2), Metro East: (1), North Central: (1), Northwest: (1), Ohio Valley: (1), Southeast: (1), Southwest: (1).
Women: New England: (4), North Central: (3), South Central: (2), Atlantic Coast: (1), Great Lakes: (1), Metro East: (1), Northwest: (1), Ohio Valley: (1), Southeast: (1), Southwest: (1).
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Full Men's Rankings:
Full Women's Rankings:
Bids were also allocated from conference championship events to regional championship events. Detailed breakdowns of those allocations can be found here:
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