East Ultimate

College Nationals scores:

Open
Women

Official Website (boredom warning!)

In case you hadn't noticed, Canyon's photos from Sunday at States are posted in the photo section. There are some . . . ahem . . . amusing ones.

The Division 1 State Championship is this weekend at Colorado Academy. The games this weekend are East's last games of the season.

(Colorado Academy is the same place the Invite and the Division 2 Championship took place.)

The tournament takes place both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday is pool play - round robin against 4 teams. There will be 19 teams; the top 16 advance to bracket (elimination) play on Sunday. (There's a summary of the tournament on the UPA website - it's subject to change.)

At 9AM on Saturday East will begin playing on the "front" fields - those immediately visible to the right upon entering the campus. (Take a right at the fork, go to the first stop sign, turn right and park in that lot.)

East is seeded 5th; there are 4 pools. Other teams in our pool are Fairview (we play them at 9:00), Compass (at 10:30), Arapahoe (1:30), & Colorado Academy (3:00). We have a "bye" at 12:00.

Sunday is bracket play. We play until we either win it all or are eliminated. There will be consolation games, but they are not mandatory. Game times: Prequarters – 9:00, Quarters – 11:00, Semis – 1:00, Finals – 3:00.

On Saturday morning, meet at East at 7:15. On Sunday, meet at Ned's house (to avoid Colfax Marathon complications.) You are welcome to drive directly to CA. Ned's address is: 725 High Street.

Snacks, water, and gatorade are always welcome at the fields. Sunscreen is good. Cleats have been forgotten.

As usual, parents are very, very welcome on the sidelines.

Creek went 0-3 and Lakewood lost in the pre-quarters after going 1-2. So, with no Colorado teams left, who should a guy root for?

How about Cathedral and Safari? At the Mudbath, the East Open team beat Cathedral in the semis and played well against Safari in the finals. That means that when Safari and Cathedral win at the Westerns, the East Open team goes up in the national rankings. You can check it out here.

If Cathedral wins it all, the East Open ranking will go even higher.

Unfortunately, the women's teams we have played are not doing so hot.

Westerns scores are being updated. Lakewood and Creek are 0-1. Rockhurst, Cathedral, and Raging Safari are 1-1.

Lakewood is currently playing Raging Safari.

Sent via BlackBerry.

(From Mark Wielga in Indonesia!)

Bill's team is undefeated so far. They are playing in quarters against a team named "Red Fish Blue Fish."

If I am reading the scores correctly, Bad Larry is now 5-0. Pretty impressive, eh?

Bill's team, Bad Larry, is so far undefeated in pool play. There are some photos, including photos of Bad Larry (red jerseys & silver shorts?), on the Worlds website.

I don't think any team can say it did better than East at the Colorado Academy tournament.

No team did better than East in the men's AND women's divisions. The East men finished second. They lost only one game - the final game to Lakewood. The East women also finished second, losing only to Colorado Academy.

But the results weren't the best part. Three things really stand out. First, was the tremendous play of both East teams. On the men's side, the zone O - something East has tried to perfect for a couple years - was close to unstoppable. Last year's freshmen have become reliable, and often spectacular, players; this year's freshmen played better than any freshmen East has ever had.

For seven of the nine members of our women's team, this is their first season and this was their first tournament. For at least two of them, the first game on Saturday was their first ultimate game ever. Yet, they went 2-1 on Saturday and on Sunday their only loss was to CA in the finals. Unbelievable.

The second thing that stands out about the weekend is that everyone played - and I don't mean merely that everyone was at some point present in the lineup. This is a team that throws to everyone, because everyone can genuinely play. (And perhaps everyone can genuinely play because they know they will get the disc?)

Third, this is a team to be proud of. East was the best "team" out there. Our sidelines contributed to every game. East has intensity but that intensity is paired with a realistic understanding that nothing and no one is perfect. Most importantly, our team members respect one another.

What an awesome weekend!