Frisbee flippers look to move into top 50
Last weekend the USU ultimate Frisbee club traveled to San Diego for the President’s Day Tournament.
The club sent both a men’s and women’s team to this three-day tournament. This was one of the largest tournaments USU plays in – the tournament attracts teams from across the country. There were 36 men’s teams in attendance and more than 20 women’s teams.
Saturday, the tournament started with pool play. The Utah State men lost to Oregon State University, 13-7, the University of California at Santa Barbara, 13-0, and Yale University, 13-10, before beating California Technical, 13-5.
The pool for the first day was pretty strong, said team captain Mike Bybee.
“We had a tough first day and played some tough teams,” he said.
The results for the second day were somewhat better. USU beat the Stanford University B team, 9-8, and the University of San Diego B team, 13-4. USU then lost to the University of Arizona, 13-7, before coming back to beat the UC Santa Barbara B team, 13-10.
Most games are played to 13 points, but there is an hour-and-a-half time cap, which was used in the game against Stanford B. The last game of has no time limit. Against UC Santa Barbara B, USU played for three hours.
On Monday, USU was placed in the consolation bracket and played three more games. Utah State defeated the Colorado University B team 15-0 and the UC Santa Barbara B team, 9-1. For the consolation championship, USU lost to Arizona, 15-12.
The team made a comeback and played much better the second and third days, Bybee said. The game against Arizona was close, and it was the team’s 11th in three days. The team played from 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., with only a couple of breaks during the day
For the tournament, the women’s team didn’t fare quite as well, as it lost to Washington, 13-3, the University of Colorado, 13-5, Stanford and Yale, 13-2.
The women’s team only had nine players travel, though they picked up two players from Arizona who played with the team. On Saturday, two players suffered from twisted ankles and were unable to play the remainder of the tournament. Shorthanded on Sunday and Monday, the women’s team played with the University of Colorado B team.
New rankings for the teams should be coming out this week, Bybee said. Because of USU’s performance, Bybee said he hopes the team will move into the top 50.