The club Ultimate Frisbee team hosted its annual Wolfpack Invitational this weekend. Over 12 schools from around the ACC sent teams to compete. Due to the rain on Saturday morning organizers moved the tournament to Pullen Park and Cider Point. Sunday’s finals were held on the intramural fields.
The Wolfpack, along with most other schools, used this weekend as a practice tournament, since it is one of the first tournaments of the fall. For the Ultimate club the fall is the practice season and the spring is the college series, when the team competes in sectional, regional and national tournaments.
“We didn’t expect to win,” Bryan Conklin, ultimate club president and co-director of the Wolfpack Invitational, said. “We played a lot of our rookie guys.”
Chuck Yu, senior in computer science, agrees with Conklin. He uses this time to train the newer members, as well as other teams and schools.
“In this tournament a lot of teams bring their rookies and use it as a practice tournament,” Yu said. “It’s designed as a practice tournament, just to get your rookies some experience.”
University of Virginia took first place in the tournament and East Carolina placed second in the men’s division. For the women, Wake Forest came in first place followed by UNC-Wilmington.
The two-day tournament consisted of pool play or round robins on Saturday, followed by a bracket created from Saturday’s standings for Sunday.
Sunday’s bracket consisted of the top eight teams and several consolation games. The Wolfpack fell in the consolation games Sunday.
“It’s really fun to see families and friends come out to watch us,” Yu said “It’s really cool to play in front of people you know.”
The Ultimate Club at State includes an A-team and a B-team. The A-team has official try-outs and cuts. Those who don’t make the A-team construct the B-team. The A and B teams practice together on Mondays and practice separately on Tuesdays.
There are a few differences between the two teams according to Jonathan Price, senior member of the B-team.
“The B-team is basically out here to just get experience and have fun,” Price said. “A-team is more experienced and is one of the top teams in the nation.”
Next up for the Ultimate A-team is the Capital City Classic in Athens, Ga., on Nov 8 and 9. This tournament is the biggest tournament of the fall season.
“Lots of really great teams from around the area will all be there for some good competition,” Derrick Marcey, senior in computer science and caption of the A-team. “This is the first tournament to see where teams stand for the spring. It’s a really important tournament for us and we feel like we will be successful from leaning from this tournament.”
As for the B-team they will be traveling to Athens the same weekend to compete in the Chili Dog Classic.
