Breaking down every region and all your contenders.
September 20, 2024 by Alex Rubin, Laura Osterlund, Calvin Ciorba and Josh Katz in Preview with 0 comments
Ultiworld’s 2024 coverage of the club division is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.
The club 2024 postseason is here! After teams battled all summer to earn bids for their regions, it’s time to figure who gets to go to the Big Show and try to win it all. We’ve got you covered with the favorites, challengers, and top storylines of every region.
Great Lakes
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Westfield, Indiana
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥
Favorites: #7 Ann Arbor Hybrid
Challengers: Cincinnati Steamboat, Chicago Parlay
Two bid Great Lakes, we hardly knew ye. The perennial one-bid region got a temporary bump to two-bid status last year thanks to the play of Cleveland Crocs, but with Crocs folding this year, the Great Lakes hopefuls find themselves back in a familiar place. No one else in the region was able to elevate their play to even get within bid-earning territory, setting up a pretty straightforward (on paper, at least) Regionals.
Leading the pack, and the overwhelming favorite to make it back to Nationals, are the three-time reigning regional winners, Hybrid. Hybrid have had a rather up-and-down season reaching some very impressive highs (winning US Open and dealing BFG their only loss thus far) but also having a couple odd low points (losing to NOISE at PEC East and finishing second-to-last at Pro Champs). The future points up, though: Hybrid should get a big boost this weekend in the form of Nathan Champoux and Rachel Mast, both of whom return to their club commitments after winning gold at the World Ultimate Championships with Team USA. They, along with Aaron Bartlett and Sara Nitz, form a potent quartet that should be more than enough to carry Hybrid to a fourth straight regional title.
The two biggest threats to Hybrid this weekend, Cincinnati Steamboat and Chicago Parlay, have plenty of blemishes on their record. However, if you squint hard enough, you can make the case for either to pull off the shocking upset. Steamboat have been to Nationals before1 and that sort of institutional knowledge often proves valuable in tense situations, such as a regional final. Parlay have shown the ability to hang with Nationals-caliber teams this year, as evidenced by their win over Tower and a close loss against XIST. If they can keep a hypothetical matchup with Hybrid close, all it takes is one or two untimely errors or a gust of wind – and gusts of wind are, after all, part of the fabric of Great Lakes ultimate – to swing the result.
Mid-Atlantic
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Frederica, Delaware
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #13 Philadelphia AMP
Challengers: #11 Washington DC Rally, Baltimore Anthem, Richmond Revival, Pittsburgh Port Authority, West Chester Loco
There’s death, taxes, and Philadelphia AMP taking one of the Mid-Atlantic bids. Since 2006, AMP have made Nationals every single year, winning 15/18 of those regionals. They havne’t lost a regional final in eight years. However, a large cloud of doubt has covered the perennial winners’ chances to stick to tradition after a (relatively) rocky regular season and roster turnover.
Don’t get it wrong, AMP have still looked strong this season. Veterans Paul Owens and Lindsay McKenna are as good as ever. As a full team, however, they just aren’t the dominant force they have been in the past. A second-place finish at PEC East and a third-place finish at US Open are fantastic results – although the former was marred by a disastrous performance in the final (a 12-6 loss to Austin Disco Club that AMP would surely rather forget). More recently, they’ve looked shaky, placing dead last at Pro Champs. The most interesting takeaway from their regular season is their split results against their most likely final matchup, Washington DC Rally. In their first meeting of the season at Pro-Elite, Rally was up 12-8 against AMP before completely choking and losing 13-12. When they met at Pro Champs, Rally once again came out swinging – and this time stayed that way, beating AMP 15-11.
Despite that result, it’s not as if Rally are the favorites – they did not even earn a strength bid. Puzzling losses dot their season, including 7-15 and 7-14 clunkers to ‘Shine and Tower. They will need to rely on their stars Brandon Lamberty and Jenny Fey if they want to take down AMP again when it counts. It will certainly be a battle, as both teams could easily make the bracket in club Nationals, but with only one bid for the two, one side will go home seriously disappointed.
A couple teams not too far below in the rankings do have a shot if they find AMP or Rally in an off game. With high winds predicted in Frederica, Baltimore Anthem, Richmond Revival, Pittsburgh Port Authority, and West Chester Loco will hope to surprise one of these teams, or at least keep a Select Flight spot. It may be unlikely, but don’t forget that Port Authority beat AMP in the first game of the season.
North Central
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Number of Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
Favorites: #4 Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust
Challengers: Madison NOISE
For the first time in five years and only the second time in division history, the North Central is down bad: only one bid. Unfortunately for anyone else with hopes to go to Nationals, it’s a tale as old as time that Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust are the favorites to claim that bid. They have qualified for Nationals every year since the North Central region was created.
With only one seat on the San Diego Express, though, Drag’n’s odds aren’t completely set in stone. They have been plagued with injuries this season and may not have a complete squad for the weekend. They’ve beaten some of the best teams in the nation and are ending the regular season highly ranked, but some of their losses are puzzling and they have experienced choking in big moments – such as turning a big second half lead in the Pro Champs final into a one-point loss while most of the frisbeesphere was paying attention to Worlds. Still, their players (including gold medalists Dylan DeClerck and Sarah Meckstroth) are confident enough to have already booked their plane tickets to San Diego.
The one team in the way of Drag’n Thrust? Madison NOISE, who have had some high highs and low lows over the past couple of seasons. Due to a sizable roster turnover – including the loss of 2022 Player of the Year Robyn Fennig – this season came with some particular lows that prevented them from earning a second bid. They’ve already played Drag’n once this season: a 15-4 loss. However, the NOISE playing at Regionals are not the same team as the one who played their regional rivals the first time. They’ve taken a Nationals bid that they hadn’t earned before and it wouldn’t be the wildest result in the world if they make a concentrated effort to do it again.
Odds are high that Drag’n and NOISE will continue their tradition of meeting each other in the final2. And yet, several teams will be battling it out for flight status, especially with Kansas City United having disbanded. Ames The Chad Larson Experience took KCU’s place at Elite-Select Challenge, and while they lost all of their games, they used that experience to win their section. In that final, they beat out Nebraska Fatal Attraction, a new team who spent their season shaking things up, and will no doubt look to continue that record.
Northeast
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Devens, Massachusetts
Number of Bids: 3
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #6 New York XIST, #10 Boston Slow, #14 Boston Sprocket
Challengers: #17 Burlington Big Rig, Toronto UNION, Boston Wild Card
Since the 2021 post-COVID club restart, New York XIST and Boston Slow have been the top two teams in the Northeast, with Boston Sprocket always in the mix and ready to score an upset at Regionals (as they’ve done in each of the past two seasons). Those three are the favorites to return to Nationals, but their place and seeding there are not guaranteed.
XIST own wins over Mixtape, Hybrid, and AMP, a who’s who of recent semifinalists (a club of which XIST is also a part). With only losses to Nationals-level teams on the docket and a win over Slow in the bracket at Pro Champs, the New Yorkers have to feel they’re the favorites to win the region. This season, Cara Sieber, Emily Barrett, Eliot Bemis, and Matt Weiner have all stepped up to keep the offense running without a true superstar. Connor Russell and Axel Agami Contreras are two important additions to a gritty defense that leaves nothing easy for opponents.
Slow started the season, well, slowly, with losses to Storm, Rally, and Space Force. A quieter regular season is typical for the Boston outfit, who also finished with their typical stronger second half display. Wins over Mixtape, Drag’n Thrust, Hybrid, and ‘Shine show Slow’s true potential. Regardless of whether they qualify for Nationals as regional champions or with one of the two other bids, Amber Sinicrope, Yuge Xiao, and company have their sights set on a deep bracket run in San Diego.
Sprocket did enough to earn themselves a bid, making the finals of Elite-Select Challenge and taking wins over Lawless and ‘Shine. But they also lost two big tests in matchups to AMP and Drag’n Thrust, which does indicate their ceiling might be lower than Slow’s or XIST’s. Nevertheless, Sprocket have the talent to get past a field of challengers for the final bid including #17 Burlington Big Rig, Toronto UNION, Boston Wild Card, and Portland The Buoy Association.
Speaking of talent, however, Boston and New York aren’t the only hubs in the region anymore. Big Rig are an intriguing collection of talent headlined by current University of Vermont college players and recent graduates (plus the Southwest flair of Elsa Winslow and Marissa Rafter). If any team can pull off a massive upset at Regionals, they’re the team to do it, but for as exciting a team as Big Rig is, they have not had to answer any tough questions this season. The best team they’ve played all season is Ithaca Townies, all the way down at #37 in the USA Ultimate rankings. Nobody doubts the talent out in Burlington, but if Big Rig are going to make it to Nationals, they’ll have to do something they’ve never done before at the most important moment of their season.
Northwest
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Corvallis, Oregon
Number of Bids: 4
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #1 Seattle BFG, #2 Vancouver Red Flag, #9 Seattle Mixtape, #22 Montana MOONDOG
Challengers: #21 Seattle Spoke, Salt Lake City Sego, Oregon Scorch, Vancouver TT
Let’s skip the boring stuff: Seattle BFG, Vancouver Red Flag, Seattle Mixtape are all locks to make Nationals. If this were a three bid region, it might not even be worth watching. However, Montana MOONDOG earned the region a fourth bid – the first time any mixed region has had that many since 2015 – to make things more interesting.
MOONDOG had the best season out of the challenger bunch (wins over Seattle Spoke and Polar Bears stand out), but Salt Lake City Sego won the Big Sky section, Spoke won the Kleinman Eruption tournament and stayed in the Ultiworld Power Rankings through the end of the season, Scorch beat a host of fringe Nationals-level teams3 before going on to win Oregon Sectionals, and TT won Washington Sectionals. In other words, this bid is absolutely up for grabs, and it’s anyone’s guess who will take it.
But let’s return to the Abbott-and-Costello question: Who’s on first? Mixtape have won seven of the last eight regional titles, BFG took home the only other title in that span (in 2021, their championship-winning season), and Red Flag have two wins over Mixtape already this season. The battle among those three to win the region and challenge for a top seed at Nationals4 will be its own fun mini-tournament to watch.
Red Flag have one significant advantage: the top seed. By virtue of their top spot in the USA Ultimate rankings, the ascending Vancouver squad earned that coveted position despite a head-to-head loss to BFG this season. Now BFG and Mixtape are slated to meet in the semifinals (assuming both win their pools), while Red Flag will have a slightly easier matchup against a team like Scorch or Sego. The emotional toll of another BFG-Mixtape matchup is sure to affect both teams’ next games and could have significant seeding implications come Nationals.
South Central
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Denver, Colorado
Number of Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #3 Fort Collins shame., #5 Austin Disco Club
Challengers: #16 Dallas Public Enemy, #25 Denver Mile High Trash, Denver Love Tractor
It’s looking likely to be a two-horse race in Denver this weekend, as Fort Collins shame. and Austin Disco Club will come into Regionals tuning up for Nationals. Both teams have shown dominance this season. Defending national champions shame. took down Pro Champs a couple of weeks ago over Drag’n Thrust on the back of a massive second-half surge. Austin Disco Club, a new team in 2024 who have already proven both the unstable nature of the mixed division’s power structure and the importance of having high-level goalty players in full-field ultimate, won Pro-Elite Challenge East in late June by smashing AMP. Although Disco Club haven’t played a competitive tournament since then, they put to bed any doubts about their staying power by beating down potential rival Dallas Public Enemy in the Texas sectional final 15-7.
Especially with the return of Jade McLaughlin from the Worlds team, shame. will be in a great position to take this tournament down. Surrounding McLaughlin are stars Owen Westbrook, Sam Goldstein, and goal scoring machine Rory Veldman. Disco Club have a roster loaded with talent including the likes of Kyle Henke, Reese Bowman, Madi Cannon, and Jaime Estes. Expect a dazzling game in Denver if – when? – these two teams make it to the final.
At the end of the day, this is the mixed division, meaning anything can happen. There are a couple teams who are looking to capitalize on a poor day from either of the top two and win a big upset. The number one team being Mile High Trash, who have created a bit of buzz this season and took down their Sectionals with ease. Trash have some big names including WUL stars Abby Thorpe, Ari Nelson, and Allysha Dixon. Other squads, like Love Tractor and Public Enemy, have had historical success, meaning they cannot be counted out of contention until they’re actually eliminated.
Southeast
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Bermuda Run, North Carolina
Number of Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #19 Durham Toro, #20 Huntsville Space Force
Challengers: #12 Nashville ‘Shine, #18 Charlotte Storm, Athens Murmur, Atlanta Roma Ultima, Huntsville Pyro
Where do you even begin when discussing Southeast Mixed Regionals? Do you start with Durham Toro, who commanded our attention early this year with a highly impressive PEC East before stumbling at SFI, but managed to do enough to secure a bid? Or do you talk first about Huntsville Space Force, whose primary shortcoming is that they sometimes don’t beat inferior competition by large enough score lines… and that they’re 0-2 this year against cross-city rival Huntsville Pyro? Or do you begin by mentioning that, while those two clubs are the bid earners according to USAU’s algorithm, we have them as the third- and fourth-best teams in the region in our Power Rankings? No matter how you start, the myriad storylines that we’ll see unfold this weekend means that this Regionals should be full of fireworks.
Our Power Rankings have ‘Shine as the top dog in the region, but take a look at their performances and it’s not hard to see why they found themselves outside the bid picture as the regular season closed. ‘Shine, who won the region last year, have shown glimpses of high caliber play throughout the season but haven’t been able to put it together for even multiple games in a row, let alone an entire weekend. They’ll need to find consistency to have a shot at emerging from this deep field.
Storm are next in our rankings (though they sit far lower in the algorithm), but their resume is eerily similar to ‘Shine’s, with arguably higher highs but also lower lows. Their win over Toro at Sectionals was a great first step towards proving their mettle, but last year’s Regionals runners-up will need to keep up that level of play for the whole weekend if they want to get one step further than they did last year.
Rounding out the contenders are a pair of frisky teams from Georgia, Atlanta Roma Ultima and Athens Murmur, both of whom have played relatively weaker schedules. Don’t be surprised if either end up playing spoiler to one or more of the top tier of contenders. Roma have a win over Toro to their name, which speaks to their upside. Megan Jarriel and Robert Bradham lead the charge. Unfortunately, Roma are 0-3 against Murmur (who have yet to play a top-25 team this year), who are now 17-1 on the season. After taking the year off in 2023, the Athenians predictably feature a number of University of Georgia Athena and Jojah stars: Fiona Cashin, Scotty Whitley, Quincy Booth, Cole Chanler.
The fun doesn’t stop there by any means. Keep looking and you’ll see Durham Brunch Club (who handed Murmur their only loss) and Savannah Conspiracy (a first-year team who finished inside the top-30 in USAU’s rankings). Then, there’s Wilmington Flytrap. Though they have a low seed and a history of finishing in the bottom half of the region, they’ve gotten two shots in the arm for the 2024 postseason in the form of former New York PoNY All-Americans Jack Williams and Sean Keegan.
Finally, while very little on their resume suggests they’re a threat this weekend, we should mention Pyro, if only because they’ve beaten Space Force twice this year; once way back in June, and once at Sectionals. And they did it with several former Space Force players: Alex Guererro, Holly Sillivant, Susannah Sorrells, and Jonathan Sillivant were all members of the 2022 Nationals team. It would be quite an upset if Pyro were to walk away from North Carolina with a Nationals berth, but in the Mixed division, truly anything can happen.
Southwest
Competition Schedule
Dates: September 21-22
Location: Temecula, California
Number of Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Favorites: #8 San Francisco Mischief, #15 Sacramento Tower
Challengers: #23 Arizona Lawless, LA Lotus, Bay Area Sunshine
Southwest? More like the wild, wild west! Well, minus the horses and hay bales.
The story might be different on paper, and this may be a hot take because of that, but much like doors to the saloon, the title of Southwest Regional Champion this season and the identity of second Nationals seat are practically wide open. After all, this is the Mixed division of the Southwest region, where anything can happen5, especially with two bids and three powerhouse teams.
The team that should have the most confidence entering regionals is the Cowboy, aka San Francisco Mischief, who have had quite the memorable wins this season. They have wins over both shame. and Drag’n Thrust, as well as a victory over Arizona Lawless. They’ve performed well against the best teams and will no doubt be using the momentum that they’ve gained to boost their performance this weekend. Yet, they’re still fallible and have some losses against teams ranked lower than them.
Right on their heels: the Saloon Owner and Piano Player, Sacramento Tower. They’ve been building ever since regionals last year. From the talent of Robyn Fennig, Morgan Greenwood, and Tom Doi (to name a few) added to their roster to their performance this season6, Tower look like the real deal. They have had a taste of success this season and will have no lack of determination to win the games they need to make their Nationals debut.
No contenders are set in stone, as several teams will seek to take their own shots at qualifying for Nationals. Last season, our Outlaws, Lawless made a splash in San Diego, making it to the quarterfinal round. With Travis Dunn and a solid core of players returning, they will no doubt put up a fight to make their return. But their record for the season precedes them – although they have a win over Tower, their losses to teams such as Public Enemy, Storm, and Sprocket7 make their ability to win the big games a question. LA Lotus and Bay Area Sunshine, playing the roles of our Gunslingers will likely also look to ruffle some feathers this weekend as the underdogs, and our Prospectors – Polar Bears – should not be counted out completely.
So, strap up your saddles, put on your boots, and get ready for some duels because this town is only big enough for two of them.
granted, their last appearance was in 2017 ↩
seven out of the past eight years have seen this pairing ↩
full list: Polar Bears, Love Tractor, Lotus, and Sunshine ↩
now more important given the new pool draw structure ↩
as evidenced by last year when we saw heavy favorites San Francisco Polar Bears get knocked out of both brackets earlier than expected ↩
Universe point win over Drag’n Thrust, 14-7 win over Rally, 14-8 win over Public Enemy ↩
as well as a 2-4 losing record at US Open ↩
