I am happy to announce that the date for the 2009 St. Johnsbury Academy Invitational has been set and bids are now being accepted!
The tournament will take place on May 16th and 17th at St. Johnsbury Academy and Lyndon Institute. There will be 16 girls teams and 24 open teams. The tournament will be UPA sanctioned, cost $325, and all teams will be guaranteed at least 6 games. There will be a dinner/dance/trade night on Saturday evening, lots of gear for sale, and lined fields.
There is a TON of ultimate going on this weekend. Mostly in the form of state championships, though it doesn't seem like any of the state championships have the standard 16 teams - California has the most with 14.
Regular tournaments
Not a second after I posted the last entry - Seattle Academy over North Hills in the finals - 15-11.
Both finals teams coming from pool A, and beating their semis opponents by 5 or more points. And Paideia took home 5th place, going through Heritage and Hopkins to do so. I have a feeling next year's Paideia Cup will have a crossover game for bracket seeding.
North Hills had beaten Seattle Academy yesterday - 15-9, adjustments were made i guess? Anyone who saw the game in person - what was the difference between Saturday and Sunday?
Sounds like a hell of a tournament on the whole, exciting ultimate all around, and another year continuing the tradition in which the debate rages who is best... east vs. west.
I stand by my last statement in the previous post though. I think this was a coming out party for North Hills, despite the finals loss, and easterns is going to be a dogfight between the perennial powers and the new kids on the block.
Comments on the tourney as a whole? Early thoughts on Easterns and Westerns? Its going to be a spectacular year for high school ultimate...
Open Scores: http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=17&id=4937
Girls Scores: http://upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=17&id=4938
Some of the pool play story from Henry Thorne... (emphasis mine, some parts were removed - [...] - click on the link for the full rundown)
[...]
[first round]
Meanwhile huge upset develops across the field with Paideia actually losing to the 3rd seed in the pool. Now realize, Paideia is one of the best programs in Juniors Ultimate, 15 years old, a religion at the school. So they don't lose at their home tournament ever practically, but, sure enough, Seattle takes it to them 12-8 and that's the ball game. What this means is, North Hills is in a ridiculously stacked pool with perhaps the best two teams in it. And them. And guess what, they get to face Seattle right now...
Seattle gets the pull, 11 passes later, none threatened, goal, 1 zip, NH down for the first time. Hills receives, a few passes later ben jacks one, seatlle d, bummer. Luckily somehow Nh gets a D and jackola again, this time successful. That pumps em up some and they come out with defensive pressure three times and jack in 3 more "how do they frickin' throw so well" scores for 4-1 and they're starting to realize they're the real deal. They go up 10-3, 12-4. We're talking' Max and Pat again. They take the game 15-9 but it was really a good bit more than that.
Paideia now has to beat NH by 6 to make the championship bracket. Parents line the field, great parents wonderful community. And let me say that paideia has two twin brothers that shouldn't ever lose an ultimate game. They are huge. By soft hands and can throw anything. And everyone on the team has ridiculous fundamentals. Never a drop, never a bad throw, never even a poor decision. Olio gets the big assignment, covers whichever brother is on and manages to make them pay dearly for every touch. By the end of the game they're both cramping and struggling. They took something out of jeff too though with 4 bombs away and two drops but NH is only down by one at the half.
The parents got a hell of a show as much of the action happened in the endzone right in front of them. Two blade goals. A Lippert drag across the back line at full speed. C Hite with two blocks, one almst a callahan. And Alex with his usual bevy of precision strikes. It was quite a show and NH was down almost the entire way including 12-10 the then 15-14 when the soft cap went on. But they could still play and Paideia was running on empty. C Hite gets another key block, and man to man NH keeps winning their matchup taking three in a row finishing with a crispy 60 yarder from Alex to Ben.
The Hopkins Hustle is a high school tournament for both open and girls' teams on May 3-4, 2008, at the polo fields in beautiful Maple Plain, MN. This is the same site that hosts MUDI (formerly Aquatennial) and many UPA Series events for both college and club divisions.
If your high school team wants to come to the Twin Cities in May for some great ultimate, check out the Hopkins Hustle website.
There you can download the bid as well as a "what to expect" form for your team. The tourney fee is $250.
Completed bids need to be submitted by Monday, March 17, 2008. Your team will be notified if it has been accepted by Monday, March 31. Housing (if necessary) will be provided by Hopkins Ultimate families.
Questions?
c/o the Amherst invite website, the teams for the 2008 tournament...
Open A Division
Andover High School (MA)
ARHS Boys JVA
ARHS Boys V
Beacon School (NY)
Columbia High School A (NJ)
Longmeadow High School (MA)
Needham High School (MA)
Nipmuc High School (MA)
Northfield Mount Hermon (MA)
Pennsbury High School (PA)Girls Division
Open B DivisionAndover High School (MA)
ARHS Girls JV
ARHS Girls JVB
ARHS Girls Varsity
Beacon School (NY)
Concord Carlisle
St Johnsbury (VT)
Stuyvesant High School (NY)
ARHS Boys JVB
ARMS (MA)
Four Rivers (MA)
Greely HS (ME)
Lincoln-Sudbury (MA)
Newton North (MA)
Phillips Andover (MA)
Somerville HS (MA)
St Johnsbury (VT)
Stuyvesant High School (NY)
Pool A
Pennsbury
Princeton
Madison West
Northfield Mt Hermon
Pool B
North Hills
Needham
Memorial
Fieldstone
Pool C
Amherst
Colombia
LC Bird
Sycamore
Pool D
HB Woodlawn
Univ School of Nashville
Lexington Catholic
Middletown
Amherstc/o UPA Score Reporter - Open, UPA Score Reporter - Womens | Official Tournament Site
University School of Nashville
Memorial
Columbia
Andover
Amherst JV
Stuyvesant
HB Woodlawn
Its a big weekend guys....
Starting on Saturday...
I got beaten to it by an anonymous commenter in the original post, and every day I get further and further away from the Philly scene, but I try to stay up on it:
According to Mark Rosser, Hiphop TD, he feels "Hopefully, having 3 divisions will reduce the number of routs and help create a lot of very close games." For an early-season high school tournament, I feel this is a wonderful idea and should be nice for all teams involved.
Note that the divisions inside themeslves aren't really seeded, per se, but organized to give teams travelling further the first-round byes, avoid re-matches, provide good matchups, etc.
Let's see what one random observer expects:
(Editor's note: click on "continue reading..." to read an entire rundown of all the pools in every division)
Pool A
Pennsbury Petyote (2-0)
Council Rock South Fiasco (1-1)
Montour (0-2)
Pool B
Princeton P-HUC (2-0)
The Pterodactyls (1-1)
Stuyvesant Sticky Fingers (0-2)
Finals: Pennsbury over Princeton
Semifinalists: Council Rock South, Pterodactyls.
Pittsburgh teams have always had a hard time bringing out full squads to Hiphop or Kitkat, so I'm hesitant to pick them to do much here. If they do manage a fuller squad, this second-year team could make some more noise. The Pterodactyls have already beaten Stuyvesant this spring, so that pick I can't go against.
Stuyvesant over Montour in the 5th place game.
I'd love to see a 3rd place game though (given my predictions, at least), with Council Rock South taking the most recent matchup, and currently leading the PHUEL standings, but the Pterodactyls have been doing better against top opponents this year. Alas, field space prevents this. A disappointing 15-12 win over CB East by CR South clouds the picture even more.
And do we really need to explain what dominance to expect from Pennsbury? Especially after a disappointing Paideia cup (at least, disappointing to anyone who expects them to win Easterns), look for them to come out swinging.
Game of the day: Princeton vs. Pterodactyls
DIV II
Pool C
Haverford High HUDA (1-1)
Cheltenham Spirit Animals (2-0)
Neshaminy Llamas (0-2)
Pool D
Lower Merion Babaganouj (0-2)
St. Joe's Prep Hand of God (2-0)
Great Valley Patriots (1-1)
SJP over Cheltenham in the finals; The Prep took them out in a regular season matchup this week, and seem to play even better at tournaments when more is on the line, it seems.
I would take Haverford over Great Valley in a theoretical 3rd place game.
LM over Neshaminy for 5th.
This division will be very, very close, and really everyone has a legitimate shot of winning it, so expect a lot of very competitive close games, especially Great Valley vs. LM and Haverford vs. Cheltenham.
Game of the day: SJP vs. Cheltenham (really, any finals matchup will be amazing)
DIV III
Pool E
Cardinal O'Hara Waste of Life (2-0)
Perkiomen Valley Gravity (1-1)
Columbia B (0-2)
Pool F
CB East Nasty (2-0)
Radnor (1-1)
Lower Merion B (0-2)
O'Hara over Perkiomen in a finals rematch.
CB East and Radnor in the semis, a brand new team (from my home Central League, for those "normal" sports) and a team hoping to rebuild after years at the top. I had CB East on top in the pool play, but that one could be a good game.
The B-teams battle it out for 5th, with Columbia B taking it: these teams have played often over the years, and though I'm sure many of the faces are changing, I expect the spirit and friendship to stay high.
For instance (story time), at Hiphop Div I-AA, in Medford, last year, the teams were to play again for 5th (or so), and instead of playing out the rematch of a few times that spring, they mixed up the teams and played for fun. It was a great sight.
Game of the day: CB East vs. Perkiomen Valley/Cardinal O'Hara.
Best of luck to all the teams, everyone will play well and some of these pools are so close I wouldn't be amazed to see my predictions turned totally upside down: my project 6th takes 1st or 2nd take 5th. That's why we play the games!
My requisite plea at the end of any of my posts: Post your results on scorereporter. E-mail them to a UPA member if no one on your team is (heck, I'll post them for you). Post your team on scorereporter. Give yourself a name, a contact, a roster, just fill stuff in, report scores, the more the better.
Hiphop on Score Reporter
Almost too many to post! 34 teams, 10 pools, one insanely huge (and awesome) high school tournament. [The UPA Score reporter site]
And then the pools...
Pool A
A1: Crescent Valley High School
A2: Edmonds-Woodway
A3: Monroe
A4: The Northwest School-Coed 9/10
Pool B
B1: Garfield
B2: Lakeside High School
B3: Roosevelt
B4: South Eugene HS Mixed A
Pool C
C1: International Community School
C2: The Northwest School-Coed A
C3: Rick Hansen Secondary
C4: Seattle Academy HS V
Pool D
D1: Ingraham HS
D2: Nathan Hale A
D3: Steveston Secondary School
D4: Bush
Pool E
E1: Bainbrigde Island
E2: Churchill HS Mixed JV1
E3: Nathan Hale B
E4: University Prep
Pool F
F1: Mercer Island
F2: The Northwest School-Coed B
F3: Sheldon HS
F4: The Center School
Pool G
G1: Monroe B
G2: The Northwest School 9
G3: Rick Hansen 9th
G4: Shorewood
G5: Bush Bees
Pool H
H1: Churchill HS Mixed Freshman
H2: Richmond
H3: Seattle Academy HS JV
H4: Nova
H5: Thomas Jefferson
phew! thats a ton of teams. comments and predictions welcome...
The UPA score reporter site, and the pools...
Pool E
| E1: Memorial Girls (1) | ||||||
| E2: Cathedral (4) | ||||||
| E3: Denver East Women (5) | ||||||
| E4: South HS (8) | ||||||
| F1: Hopkins H.S. Women (2) | ||||||
| F2: Cretin-Derham Hall (3) | ||||||
| F3: St Johns-Ravenscourt (6) | ||||||
| F4: Woodward Academy (7) |
MudBath will be played in Madison, WI this coming weekend with the following pools....
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Pool B
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Pool C
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Pool D
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Hip Hop will be played at Edgely next weekend with the following pools....
Division I
Pool A Pool B
1 Pennsbury (PA) 1 Princeton (NJ)
2 Council Rock South (PA) 2 Pterodactyls (PA)
3 Montour (Pitts) 3 Stuyvesant (NY)
Division II
Pool C Pool D
1 Haverford High (PA) 1 Lower Merion (PA)
2 Cheltenham (PA) 2 St Joes (PA)
3 Neshaminy (PA) 3 Great Valley (PA)
Division III
Pool E Pool F
1 Cardinal O’Hara 1 CB East (PA)
2 Perkiomen Valley (PA) 2 Radnor (PA)
3 Columbia B 3 Lower Merion (PA)
The action this weekend...
Paideia Cup - Atlanta, GA
-UPA Open page
-UPA Girls' page
East Invite - Denver, CO
-UPA Open page
-UPA Girls' page
PHUEL All-Star Game - Philadelphia, PA
-PlayUltimate Preview
Post results as you get em.
Also stay tuned next week for the prize announcements for the PlayUltimate highlight reel contest. We've got a few big names in the ultimate community contributing to the effort so start editing that film! 1st through 3rd for both categories will be taking home a prize of some fashion so get those entries sent in!! Entries are DUE by May 1st
(If you are an ultimate vendor and you would still like to sponsor the contest time is running out! Email the site - PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com - by Monday evening if you would like to participate.)
Paideia Cup is this weekend, as is the 3rd Annual East Invite in Colorado, two high profile tournaments that will undoubtedly yield some awesome ultimate and a better understanding of how teams stack up against each other heading towards Easterns and Westerns...
... and there will be a thread for that on Friday afternoon for last minute prognostications and game results as they become available. Until then though, Alex Peters was down at HS Terminus in Atlanta where a good number of high school programs were represented (i don't have an exact figure because a tournament schedule was never loaded onto the UPA Score reporter... boo!) - Paideia, Fox Chapel and Mt. Lebonan from Pittsburgh, Andover from Massachusetts among others.
Anyway, Alex took some awesome pics which you can view here, what i would like to see though is comments on the pictures so we can start putting some names with the faces. so if you know someone in a pic post a comment on Alex's site underneath the shot. I keep hearing names tossed around, and I for one would like to know whos who.
For those who weren't at Terminus, or who would like something entirely different to talk about, I'm noticing that a team from Chicago is going to the East Invite. That is pretty damn awesome, given the 14 hour drive or flight. Around the same amount of awesome as Lebo and Fox Chapel and Andover getting down to Georgia for Terminus.
So - Whats the furthest your team has traveled for a tournament and what troubles did you encounter getting there? Any advice for those trying to get to tournaments far away? Is it worth it to travel far for a tournament your team might not win? Better to drive as a team in vans or cram into cars? Flying vs. driving? Road trip bonding?
(An open thread for the tournaments this weekend will be posted on Friday, until then chat away)
The big high school tournament this weekend will be taking place in Trenton, NJ in the form of Born to Dive, hosted by the illustriously hyped Pennsbury.
Teams attending (RRI)
- Pennsbury (2432)
- HB Woodlawn (Yorktown) (2370)
- Stuyvesant (2510)
- Watchung Hills (1980)
- Princeton High School (2310)
- JP Stevens High School (2043)
- The Pterodactyls (2006)
- Central Bucks East (2475)
- Pennsbury B (1773)
- West Windsor-Plainsboro North (2545)
- YHB JV (2039)
- Columbia High School (1658)
- Stuyvesant JV (1776)
- Watchung Hills JV (1401)
Early predictions have some mix of Yorktown, Columbia and Pennsbury in the finals, with a possible Princeton showing. Wildcards - CB East has yet to report scores for the spring season, so who knows how they will show. Same with JP Stevens (shoutout to Edison, town of my birth!).
Should be interesting how it turns out, if you have reports or recaps of the games feel free to post them as comments.
[upa tournament site]
Lots of high school ultimate this weekend (as well as a ton of sweet posts on the blog, just scroll through the archives and check them all out.)
so lets hear what people have to say a few of the big things -
From the desk of Director of Youth Development Meredith Tosta -
The March 23rd due date for applications to the 2007 HS Eastern and HS Western Championships is quickly approaching!
Go to the Youth Division page for information about eligibility and the application/selection process and to download an application. We are looking forward to an exciting spring of high school Ultimate! Email Will Deaver and Meredith Tosta with any questions.
Thank you!
Meredith Tosta
Director of Youth Development
Ultimate Players Association
4730 Table Mesa Dr. Suite J-200
Boulder, CO 80305
Phone: 800-872-4384 ex 115
Fax: 303-447-3483
C/o rsd announcement by Will Deaver -
Early applications for the 2007 UPA Youth Club Championships are beingDeadline is quickly approaching, what leagues have sent in bids? Will it be roughly the same field as last year? Will Philly repeat as champs? Will (should?) the field be expanded to 16 teams? Are there enough competitive leagues in the US so handle such an expansion?
taken until Feb 28th (next Wednesday). The early bid process is for
league-based teams only, with bid priority first to UPA youth leagues
and second to UPA high school leagues. Please check out
http://www.upa.org/juniors/championships/index.html for more
information on eligibility, competition guidelines, and a link to the
application.
Will Deaver
UPA Championship Director
My presentation will cover issues from basic tournament essentials to how to expand your event to the next level. For the past five years a big part of my life has revolved around high school Ultimate tournaments, so I have developed many strong opinions on what makes for a successful event. Over the next couple weeks I would like to further expand on my ideas by posing the following questions to the PlayUltimate community:
1) In your opinion what are the most important traits of a well run HS Ultimate tournament?
2) What are your Ultimate tournament pet peeves?
3) If you've ever organized an Ultimate tournament, what advice would you give to people who are thinking about running a HS Ultimate tournament for the first time?
4) What do you think is the most crucial element that separates well run HS tournaments from poorly run HS tournaments?
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