If you happened to be like me and stopped waiting for the upa to post the locations of Westerns & Easterns a while ago, you might have missed that they have been announced.
Westerns: Burlington, WA - May 12/13
Easterns: Lebanon, OH - May 19/20
For the second time, Westerns will be hosted by Disc Northwest in Burlington, WA. Easterns, on the other side of the nation, will be hosted for the first time by Cincinnati Ultimate Players Association, Warren County Convention, and Vistors Bureau in Lebanon, OH.
There is something significantly different this coming year that will be creating some buzz and speculation as to the logic and reason behind the UPA's decision. For both Westerns and Easterns there will only be 8 bids awarded in the girls division. If you read the rest of my post you will see the history of Nationals and Westerns/Easterns. You will also see each year the number of girls teams increasing. Is there being a smaller limit on the number of teams coming because of formating issues with 10 and 12 teams? Is it because there is a desire for there to be a higher level of competition and limiting the # of teams will help this? Is it the venue that cannot hold more than 24 teams? Or are the requirements changing this coming year? The previous 2 years girls teams have been allowed a 75%/25% ratio of players from their own school. Are there fewer girls teams expected this coming year because requirment will be 100%?
History of Junior Championships
There has been a relatively brief running of National Junior Championships and with no guaranteed future, it will be interesting if the same regions and schools continue to dominate. What also will be interesting is if this will be the last year of Westerns & Easterns... Could we see the advent of 4 regional competitions instead? A Northwest, Southwest, Northeast, and Southeast?
2002 "UPA Juniors Ultimate Championships"
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Open Champion: Paideia (unknown score - anyone?)
Girls Champion: Amherst (unknown score - anyone?)
# Teams: 23 (16 open & 7 girls)
2003 "UPA Juniors Invitation Championships"
Location: Birmingham, AL
Open Champion: Amrherst over Paideia (15-10)
Girls Champion: Amherst over Amherst JV (13-5)
# Teams: 28 (16 open & 12 girls)
2004 "UPA High School Championships"
Location: Corvallis, OR
Open Champion: Amherst over Northwest (15-5)
Girls Champion: Yale over Eugene Girls (15-4)
# Teams: 28 (16 open & 12 girls)
The decision was made to make an Easterns and Westerns (essentially 2 national level championships)
2005 "Westerns"
Location: Burlington, WA
Open Champion: Northwest over Churchill (15-7)
Girls Champion: Nathan Hale over Yorkhouse (15-5)
# Teams: 24 (16 open & 8 girls)
2005 "Easterns"
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Open Champion: Amherst over Columbia (15-9)
Girls Champion: Amherst over University School of Nashville (15-8)
# Teams: 26 (16 open & 10 girls)
2006 "Westerns"
Location: Boulder, CO
Open Champion: Northwest over Hopkins (14-9)
Girls Champion: Nathan Hale over Northwest (14-7)
# Teams: 27 (16 open & 11 girls)
2006 "Easterns"
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Open Champion: Amherst over Madison West (15-6)
Girls Champion: Amherst over University School of Nashville (13-7)
# Teams: 24 (16 open & 8 girls)
2007 "Westerns"
Location: Burlington, WA
Open Champion: ?
Girls Champion: ?
# of Teams: 24
2007 "Easterns"
Location: Lebanon, OH
Open Champion: ?
Girls Champion: ?
# Teams: 24
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
2007 HS Westerns & Easterns
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6 comments:
Luke,
Good post. I believe the UPA usually lists the girls division as 8 teams and then expands it if possible. Obviously there is enough room in Burlington for more than 8.
I like the same rules for girls eligibility as for boys. I think it will grow the sport quicker because girls who had played for other schools will be forced to start teams at their own schools. Of course, there is nothing like middle school ultimate to grow the sport at the HS level.
I bet we could get 8 girls teams from Seattle (Hale, NWS, SAAS, Lakeside, Bush, Roosevelt) and Eugene (South and Churchill) alone, so hopefully everyone else in the west can get 8 teams out here. Will BC put any teams in? Cali? Colorado?
I completely understand how formats drive numbers of teams let in but hopefully no girls teams get turned away for growth reasons until we have 16 at the tourneys.
I also wonder if any of the Minn teams will petition to go to Easterns instead of Westerns? I hope they all stay at Westerns but for the ones who always bus i would guess that Easterns is 900 miles or so closer than Westerns. For the teams that fly it doesn't relly matter.
-Mike
Expect at least one Colorado team to place a bid (most likely East, Broomfield, or Lakewood, although I'd be stoked to see other schools start up girls teams).
Westerns Girls Teams from Eugene is a bit uncertain as both schools have their own issues this coming season.
South Eugene: lost Chris Norton & Julia Sherwood, the two dominate leaders and players. Without them the team is a bit in question as to whether they'll have enough players to make a 100% squad (this last westerns they had 9 girls, 2 of which were from Sheldon).
Churchill HS: didn't loss anyone, and in fact will be stronger and much better as the majority of the team will be sophmores and second have another year on their backs. The problem is in the leadership of our girls team. It is uncertain who is in charge in both coaching and captaining...
Im pretty sure that both York House (2005 girls runners-up) and St. George's (open) will be sending teams to rosters. They won the first ever BC High School Single Sex Provincials held this spring and earned the right to represent BC at Westerns.
Rick Hansen from BC might also submit a bid in '07. Kitsilano had a great season in 2006, but I think that they had a lot of grade 12 players.
It's also very likely that Jones will bring the Tribe from Crescent Valley (OR).
Crescent Valley lost 5 or 6 seniors... Jones still might bring a team, but he's got a baby now to give his time to.
also, south eugene girls only sent 8 girls total, and 6 were SEHS students.
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