Breaking down every team in every pool ahead of the US' premier club tournament
October 22, 2024 by Edward Stephens and Alex Rubin in Preview with 0 comments
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2024 Club National Championships 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.
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The first pull of the 2024 USAU Club Championships is just days away! To make sure you’re prepared for all the action, we’ve got breakdowns of every team in every pool, as well as projected finishes. Is this finally the year for overall number one seed Chicago Machine? Will this year’s superteam compilation of Boston DiG lead to the team’s first title? How about Washington DC Truck Stop and New York PoNY, lurking as the lower seeds in pools but whose names are enough to strike fear into the heart of the most players? Upsets and high-flying plays are assured during what’s heralded as the best tournament in the world, so let’s dive right in.
Pool A
Chicago Machine
USAU Ranking: #1
Power Ranking: #2
Regional Finish: GL1
Overall 2024 Record: 21-3
Against the Nationals Field: 10-3
Against the Pool: 1-0 vs. PoNY, 1-0 vs. RDU
The main thing to know about Machine is that, after finishing second to Truck Stop in 2023, they are doing everything they can to win the championship in 2024. At 21-3, they have the best win percentage (.875) in the division heading into Nationals. According to a panel of experts, they have the division’s best player in Joe White. Based on a whirlwind couple of seasons, they have picked up Europe’s best player in Daan De Marrée. They have a full quiver of offensive set plays, defensive schemes, position players, hybrids, and highlight potential. They have ample experience in big game situations, and, in a year where the men’s division has seen tons of high-profile transfers, they have impressive year-to-year roster continuity.
The only thing left for them to have? A championship. They haven’t quite managed to put together a full Nationals in 20 trips – yet. Due to the parity at the top of the men’s division, nothing is guaranteed this year either. You have to like Machine’s chances, though. For starters, the random draw gave them the friendliest possible pool. Even with an uber-talented PoNY side and potentially underrated Sockeye lurking, a Thursday upset would be shocking. It’s far more likely they breeze through without much of a challenge and come out fresh as spring rain for quarters.
Quarters, of course, is where the going will get really, really tough. There is no such thing as an easy path through the bracket in 2024. But what White, De Marrée, Johnny Bansfield, Nate Goff, Keegan North, Andrew Sjogren, Tim Schoch, Xavier Payne, Malik Auger-Semmar… (you get the idea, right? Machine are really, really deep) have proven, both this year and in years past, is that they are ready for the moment this time around. This is, simply, their best chance to etch the team’s name into history.
Likely Ceiling: Championship
Likely Floor: Quarters
Seattle Sockeye
USAU Ranking: #8
Power Ranking: #10
Regional Finish: NW2
Overall 2024 Record: 23-4
Against the Nationals Field: 6-3
Against the Pool: 1-0 vs. RDU
How many of you called Sockeye’s undefeated tour of Indianapolis’s Grand Park at the Elite-Select Challenge? Unless you are on the team or a proud Sockeye parent, you didn’t. No one did. And yet they beat four different Nationals teams en route to that tournament title. And that’s exactly the same sort of energy they’re rolling with into Nationals: Sockeye are sneaky-good.
Before we get to the part where we try to figure out exactly how good these sneaky-good salmon could be, though, there’s a good reason people have been sleeping on the fish: they fell off the map last season, missing Nationals entirely. That kind of ignominy, for a legacy program of Sockeye’s caliber, is comparable to Luca Brasi turning police informant. It’s both unthinkable and, potentially, a harbinger of doom.
It’s a testament to the Sockeye program’s resolve that the stutter did not turn into a tailspin. On the contrary, they’re flying as well as anyone could possibly expect, largely thanks to an investment in the area’s rich stock of youth talent. Alongside veterans like the all-around excellent Trent Dillon and DY Chen, you’ll see the current generation of club standouts (Jack Brown, Garrett Martin), major players in the current college division (Declan Miller, Daniel Chen, Tucker Kalmus), and the next generation to break into the ranks (Cedar and Ocean Hines, for example). The upshot is a team with a greater sense of their potential ceiling than their potential shortcomings. That’s a dangerous brew.
Likely Ceiling: Quarters
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
New York PoNY
USAU Ranking: #10
Power Ranking: #8
Regional Finish: NE2
Overall 2024 Record: 11-7
Against the Nationals Field: 5-5
Against the Pool: 0-1 vs. Machine, 0-1 vs. RDU
For four straight seasons from 2019 – 2023, PoNY were at least co-favorites for a title, and often outright favorites. It was easy to see why: following their 2018 title, the stars they had on hand kept attracting more stars until they became a kind of galactic alliance of great ultimate players. They kept coming up just short of a second title, though, reaching semis or the final before getting knocked off course. Now, with a few of the stars having traveled to new regions of the universe and some of the remaining ones getting – there’s no polite way to say this – old by the standards of elite-level ultimate, they come in as the type of challenger they used to have to fend off.
Should we really be lowering our expectations? Yes and no. In the opinion of some,1 the offense has yet to find its footing in 2024 since the departures of Sean Keegan, Ryan Osgar, and Jack Williams. And it’s a fact that, outside of ambushing Truck Stop’s debut game of the season, their results so far look more like a quarters/prequarters level club than a real contender. This is not yesteryear’s PoNY.
The counterargument, of course, is talent. Chris Kocher, Sam Little, Jibran Mieser, Cam Wariner, John Randolph, and Ben Jagt are starters on any team in the country, and it’s not like there’s a dropoff after that gaudy top-end. Liam Haberfield and Conrad Schlör were towering figures on their own national teams only a few weeks ago at Worlds. 2024 college stars Calvin Brown and Scott Heyman have been outstanding even as they are both still integrating into their new club. The pieces are all there. If PoNY can fit them together in the right way, they could be right back among the division’s upper crust.
Likely Ceiling: Semis
Likely Floor: Prequarters
Raleigh-Durham United
USAU Ranking: #15
Power Ranking: #13
Regional Finish: SE3
Overall 2024 Record: 11-8
Against the Nationals Field: 1-6
Against the Pool: 1-0 vs. PoNY, 0-1 vs. Machine, 0-1 vs. Sockeye
Last season turned out to be a miracle run for RDU. They set the goal of earning a strength bid for the Southeast, earned it, held it, and made the bracket. For a club on the fringes of the National picture, it was fairy tale stuff. The 2024 season has been a different kind of miracle: keeping the marker of being a Nationals-level team alive despite massive turnover. The dozen players who left included two of their most dynamic players in Tobias Brooks (Johnny Bravo) and Albert Yuan (DiG), their most promising future star in Xander Wilcox (Ring of Fire), and their most experienced oldhead Brett Matzuka (Condors). The fact that they have returned to San Diego is cause alone for celebration.
How much higher can they push? The oddsmakers say that, for this year anyway, playing in the tournament is just about the ceiling. That 1-6 record against other Nationals qualifiers does not inspire much confidence, and they learned recently that they’ll have to make the westward journey without one of the team’s captains, Clint McSherry. Couple those facts with a tough pool, and RDU could be looking at consolation city as they lay the groundwork for a third Nationals trip in 2025.
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, though, let’s not overlook a few key details. The first is the clear talent on the roster. Returners Caleb Louie and Daniel Ferriter lead a notoriously stingy O-line. They’re joined this season by a pair of steadying presences Terrence Mitchell (playing just as well as ever) and Bailey Laberteaux. The D-line have their share of playmakers – none quite so exciting as Henri Lessard, who will get legit blocks against all three teams in the pool. The other factor in their favor is a bizarre penchant for giving PoNY a game when it matters. Two regular season wins in two years, and a near-upset in pool play last year… RDU have a chance, be it ever so slight.
Likely Ceiling: Prequarters
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
Pool B
Boston DiG
USAU Ranking: #2
Power Ranking: #3
Regional Finish: NE1
Overall 2024 Record: 17-7
Against the Nationals Field: 8-7
Against the Pool: 1-1 vs. Ring of Fire, 1-0 vs. GOAT
Perhaps the splashiest men’s division event of the preseason was DiG’s 2024 roster drop. Rumors circulated for weeks about who might be joining up for the new campaign. And when the names came to light, the excitement turned out to be justified. There were fully-vetted stars Jeff Babbitt and Rowan McDonnell. There were U24 fireballs Calvin Stoughton and Albert Yuan. There was one of the brightest stars in Europe, Tobe Decraene. That’s only a partial list. The team’s exceptional recruiting gravity reached across the country and into other corners of the globe.
Expectations for DiG’s 2024 potential rose accordingly, and they have essentially lived up to them. Playing the full suite of Triple Crown Tour events netted them two finals appearances: PEC East and Pro Champs. In between, though, they had a clunker of a US Open, headlined by an ugly prequarterfinal loss to Truck Stop. Between incorporating so many new pieces and playing with famed ultimate coach Jake Smart’s latest ideas, DiG’s regular season has felt a lot like a series of laboratory experiments. They’ve fiddled with combinations of players, saggy defenses, and even a megadump set. Some of – or maybe none of – these experiments may make an appearance at Nationals as the coaching staff key in on the team’s best practices.
The upshot is a very good team who are also a bit of an unknown quantity. Solomon Rueschemeyer-Bailey, McDonnell, Ethan Fortin, and Charles Weinberg have all gotten serious looks as the key O-line handler: who will it be at Nationals? How will primary cutting duties play out in a corps that features Babbitt, Decraene, Peter Boerth, Simon Carapella, and Josh Markette? Which of the team’s fleet of ace match defenders (Orion Cable, Reed Browning, Turner Allen, Ben Horrisberger) will draw the toughest matchups?
And, most importantly, are DiG really a team with a championship ceiling?
Likely Ceiling: Championship
Likely Floor: Quarters
Raleigh Ring of Fire
USAU Ranking: #5
Power Ranking: #7
Regional Finish: SE2
Overall 2024 Record: 17-7
Against the Nationals Field: 7-6
Against the Pool: 1-1 vs. DiG
Considering the program’s long and illustrious history, 2024 has been one of Ring of Fire’s quieter seasons, at least up until this point. Although they bring back most of the team that in 2023 ended PoNY’s season and gave eventual champions Truck Stop a serious scare in semis, their performance in three regular season majors, as well as Southeast Regionals, does not point to the same kinds of heights in San Diego this time around.
Perhaps none of what has happened so far in 2024 really matters, though. After all, a large percentage of their players were either all in for a semipro campaign with the UFA’s Carolina Flyers, a Worlds campaign with Team USA, or, in some cases, both. With those commitments stretching from February to September, there was hardly been a window to knuckle down on Ring before the Series. The regular season was, essentially, a combination of reps and treading water until the real work could begin.
Look, then, to the talent. While Ring are not the only club bursting with it in 2024, they’ve got plenty. Anders Juengst and Ben Dameron continue to improve at a blistering pace; players who can guard either of them with any consistency are few and far between. Jacob Fairfax is, if anything, even more unguardable than they are this season. Eric Taylor, Matt Gouchoe-Hanas, Ben Snell, Allen Laviolette, and Sol Yanuck are among the high-level veterans who can keep a point moving and keep the team on track throughout a difficult tournament. There’s a lot to like, and Ring are firmly in the mix with the rest of the division’s elite.
Still, losing the Southeast final to perennial rivals Chain Lightning tempers the excitement, at least a little…
Likely Ceiling: Semis
Likely Floor: Prequarters
Toronto GOAT
USAU Ranking: #11
Power Ranking: #14
Regional Finish: NE3
Overall 2024 Record: 21-4
Against the Nationals Field: 0-4
Against the Pool: 0-1 vs. DiG
Step one for GOAT was making a return to Nationals after a poor 2023 Northeast Regionals saw them fail to make even the game-to-go. This year, they both made the game-to-go and, after outlasting a very good Amherst Sprout side, scored a universe point win to punch their tickets to San Diego. Step one: accomplished.
Step two will be to reach something like the heights of the program’s salad days. That’s going to prove a lot tougher. There are some encouraging signs. The Greater Ontario region’s talent pipeline has never run dry, with the result that several generations of elite-level players have come together. That includes some of the best players in GOAT’s history (Andrew Carroll, Remi Ojo, Isaiah Masek-Kelly), the current generation of stars in their prime (Mike Mackenzie, James Lewis) and the area’s up-and-comers (Oscar Stonehouse, Keith McRae). It’s a winning mix, in theory.
In practice, GOAT are still looking for a higher ceiling. Their four losses this season all came against other clubs in the Nationals field. Until they prove they can once again knock off one of those programs, the default assumption has to be that they won’t. That said, they have a decent draw for getting into the bracket, one of the best histories in the entire field, and one late-season addition – the electric Ty Barbieri – who could help swing a tight game their way.
Likely Ceiling: Prequarters
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
Minneapolis Mallard
USAU Ranking: #18
Power Ranking: #15
Regional Finish: NC1
Overall 2024 Record: 22-7
Against the Nationals Field: 0-5
Against the Pool: 0-0
Minneapolis Mallard make their Nationals debut after ending up on top of the North Central scrum, dethroning the long-tenured crosstown rivals Minneapolis Sub Zero in the process. It’s a big step up for a club that has been gaining momentum over the course of the last few seasons. Now that they’ve made it to San Diego, what can they accomplish?
The first goal to set for themselves – and, if we’re being honest, probably the highest pre-consolation outcome goal – is an appearance in the bracket. The good news is that it’s attainable for Mallard right off the bat. Between Ryan Osgar’s control of an offensive game and a host of intriguing young weapons from the Minnesota Grey Duck program (Austin Gin, Anthony Jirele, Gabriel Jagt), Mallard are going to be able to put up double-digit points on any team they face. That baseline, a bit of luck, and some Josh Klane magic somewhere in the neighborhood of his performance in the UFA playoffs for the Windchill could raise that ceiling.
It might not happen for Mallard this year. The top two seeds in the pool seem out of reach already, and GOAT are going to be as tough as they come in a win-and-in situation. And if that’s the way it plays out, that’s okay. Mallard have taken the North Central mantle, and this could just be the first act in a much longer scheme where they become the dominant force in the region and a legitimate Nationals powerhouse. The future starts now.
Likely Ceiling: Prequarters
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
Pool C
Denver Johnny Bravo
USAU Ranking: #3
Power Ranking: #1
Regional Finish: SC1
Overall 2024 Record: 11-5
Against the Nationals Field: 6-4
Against the Pool: 1-0 vs. Chain Lightning
Do Johnny Bravo have it in them again to be one of the division’s best teams at Nationals? Last season saw them lose a universe point heartbreaker to Machine in what was without a doubt one of the best games of the year. The year before that saw them ignite for one of the hottest bracket runs in memory and throw a wrench in the famously efficient Truck Stop offense to win a title. If the regular season is any indication, the answer is an emphatic yes. While there are no guaranteed outcomes in an exceptionally crowded men’s division contending class, there is no doubt that the ceiling for 2024 Bravo is a championship.
The top-end talent on Bravo is plain to see. Both Quinn Finer and Alex Atkins landed in the top 10 of our Player Rankings this year – deservingly so, as both have been outstanding. Tobias Brooks (new to the team this year after a brilliant Nationals debut with RDU a year ago) and Noah Coolman have also drawn rave reviews for their individual performances. Future Hall-of-Famer Grant Lindsley had not even practiced with the team before Pro Champs but might have been the best player at the tournament, leading Bravo to a win. Nor do they lack for depth: Jay Froude, Matty Jackson, Denny Bechis, Jonathan Nethercutt, Mathieu Agee, and Chance Cochran are some of the more familiar playmakers who fill out the ranks. This is a roster built for the moment and the long haul alike.
There are, however, potential weaknesses that could soften that outlook. The first is one of the team’s 2024 departures: Cody Spicer. His combination of defensive technique, offensive obstinacy, and towering leadership has no obvious replacement. It’s possible Nethercutt, Agee, and Cochran can replace that value in the aggregate, but there’s no proof yet. The other apparent flaw is the ofer they’ve put up so far in 2024 against Truck Stop. Even against the WUC-thinned line Truck trotted out for Pro Champs, Bravo could not get close to a win. Those are legitimate nits to pick. Bravo have the ability to overcome them, all that’s left is to do it.
Likely Ceiling: Championship
Likely Floor: Quarters
Portland Rhino Slam!
USAU Ranking: #7
Power Ranking: #9
Regional Finish: NW1
Overall 2024 Record: 20-8
Against the Nationals Field: 8-7
Against the Pool: 1-0 vs. Furious George, 0-2 vs. Chain Lightning
Rhino haven’t left the top of the division since they barged into it in 2019 by nearly knocking off PoNY in a universe point quarterfinal classic. They are one of only five teams in the division – along with PoNY, Ring of Fire, Truck Stop, and Machine – to reach quarters or better each of the last four years. That run includes a pair of trips to semis in 2021 and 2022. Rhino are firmly ensconced among the elite. The question that remains: what’s it going to take to break through to having a real shot at a championship?
The answer is probably not that much more than what they have in place for this latest attempt. They still have their longtime stars Raphy Hayes, Daniel Lee, Owen Murphy, and Vinh Bui to set the tone. In recent years, they added club stars Will Lohre, Dylan Freechild, and Jack Hatchett into the mix. This season they’ve increased the star power another level, landing Henry Ing and Matt Rehder. Mix in a few of the college division’s current best players (Mica Glass, Ben Thoennes, Felix Moren, Aaron Kaplan) and you have a clear recipe for success: potential matchup advantages at virtually every starting position.
The other side of the coin, though, is that Rhino’s performances have left room for doubt. Sloppy finals at both PEC West (a victory) and the US Open (a bad loss) took some of the shine off of otherwise splendid tournaments. An 0-5 record to open Pro Champs before salvaging 7th place against a very shorthanded Truck Stop nearly takes the shine off the whole season. They righted the ship for an undefeated trip through a tricky Northwest Regionals, though. Believe in Rhino’s potential. It’s real. And if you still harbor some doubt – well, that’s real, too.
Likely Ceiling: Finalist
Likely Floor: Prequarters
Atlanta Chain Lightning
USAU Ranking: #9
Power Ranking: #6
Regional Finish: SE1
Overall 2024 Record: 16-8
Against the Nationals Field: 6-7
Against the Pool: 2-0 vs. Rhino Slam!, 0-1 vs. Johnny Bravo, 0-1 vs. Furious George
How do we square our massive expectations for this particular iteration of Chain Lightning, one of the division’s oldest clubs, with some of the on-field play we’ve seen from them? Their Saturday at Elite-Select Challenge was an outright disaster. They were awful in the wind and dropped games to Garden State Ultimate and Furious George as they fell into the bottom bracket. The threat of another such bad day – paired with the strength of the pool – raises enough concern that we have downgraded their floor (below) to “Out on Day One.”
Fortunately for Chain, they have other results buoying our estimation of them. The win at Southeast Regionals against Ring of Fire was no mean feat, PEC East saw them beat PoNY and nearly complete a comeback against DiG before hard cap ended the game, and they dealt poolmates Rhino Slam! a pair of losses at Pro Champs. Those good results are not enough (mixed as they are with a handful of losses) on their own to completely outweigh the ESC debacle. The sheer talent probably puts them over the top though. Brett Hulsmeyer, having already come into his prime as a pure athlete, is coming into his prime has a handler. Flanking him: a line of players who could pop off any minute. If you’re plugged into high-level ultimate, you’ll recognize Pat Earles, Nicky Spiva, Austin Taylor, Jeremy Langdon, Kenni Taylor, Aidan Downey, Lukas McClamrock, and Hayden Austin-Knab from top notch play over the years. Chain have the horses to make a deep run in San Diego.
That could start with an undefeated romp on Thursday. Or it might not start at all. Furious, who have the head-to-head advantage in 2024 to date, are probably the most dangerous bottom seed at the tournament, and the top two seeds are at least as strong as Chain – and in Bravo’s case, more proven. Be ready for any kind of possibility throughout the weekend.
Likely Ceiling: Semis
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
Vancouver Furious George
USAU Ranking: #14
Power Ranking: #12
Regional Finish: NW3
Overall 2024 Record: 12-6
Against the Nationals Field: 4-4
Against the Pool: 1-0 vs. Chain Lightning, 0-1 vs. Rhino Slam!
Don’t look now, but Furious George could be really good. How good? While threatening for a championship is a stretch, they have a realistic chance to get through their pool and then some. Is this the beginning of a return to form for the angry monkeys who were once the class of the division?
Maybe so. While the recent vintage Furious iterations have underperformed at Nationals relative to the lofty standards of yore, they have been overperforming on the recruitment front. Longtime local lights Kevin Underhill, Tim Tsang, and Morgan Hibbert are joined by some of Canada’s top players. It was impossible to watch Team Canada at Worlds (and various international warm-ups) and not come away impressed by Malcolm Bryson, Vincent Bulloch, and Quinn Snider. They were (along with Machine’s Malik Auger-Semmar) among the tournament’s best players. So was Colombia’s Simon Ramírez, who has also joined up with Furious for the 2024 campaign to make his North American club debut. With the limitless potential of Victoria’s Max Pettenuzzo in the mix, they could surprise one or two of the other teams in their pool.
Then again, they might not. As strong as Furious appear on paper, you have to squint to see them match up well against Chain (who, to be fair, they have beaten in 2024), they lost to Rhino decisively at Northwest Regionals, and a win over Bravo would be the shock of the tournament. Yes, light a hopeful candle. No, don’t be surprised if it goes out after three rounds of play.
Likely Ceiling: Quarters
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
Pool D
San Francisco Revolver
USAU Ranking: #4
Power Ranking: #5
Regional Finish: SW1
Overall 2024 Record: 17-7
Against the Nationals Field: 7-6
Against the Pool: 1-0 vs. Truck Stop
Revolver have endured a season of ups (second place at PEC West and third at Pro Champs) and downs (whatever happened at the US Open) and comfortably reclaimed their place atop the Southwest region for the 11th time in the 12 years since the regional redraw. Like last year, they sit atop their pool with a very dangerous second seed setting up a tantalizing pool matchup. With the incredible parity in the men’s division this season, Revolver have the talent to blaze a path back to the stadium games of their 2010s heyday… but they’ll need to beat a lot of really good teams to do so.
This Revolver team is a fun combination of under-appreciated veterans like Adam Rees, Byron Liu, and Simon Higgins playing alongside up-and-coming known talent (Mac Hecht, Leo Gordon, Dexter Clyburn, Anton Orme, and the like) and up-and-coming, soon-to-be-known talent like Robin Vickers Batzdorf and Toby Warren. Players from different youth ultimate backgrounds, college programs, and eras all mesh together to form one of the most fun-to-watch teams out there.
With wins this season already over Truck Stop, Johnny Bravo, and Machine, Revolver proved they can play with the best the division has to offer. Doing so again under the bright spotlight of Nationals is Revolver’s biggest challenge this week, but they have the talent and institutional knowledge to prove up to the task.
Likely Ceiling: Semis
Likely Floor: Quarters
Washington DC Truck Stop
USAU Ranking: #6
Power Ranking: #4
Regional Finish: MA1
Overall 2024 Record: 13-5
Against the Nationals Field: 6-5
Against the Pool: 0-1 vs. Revolver
“Trying to motivate people after winning a championship – everyone says it’s difficult, but then you actually get into it and it is difficult,” Truck Stop captain Alexandre Fall said.
With the DC Breeze’s UFA success pushing into the early club season and nearly a full line of players flying off to Australia to win gold medals with Team USA2, just getting everyone on the same practice field proved difficult for Truck Stop in 2024, as well. But, as the mighty Trucks have proven for the last three seasons, if there is a place where elite talent, extreme chemistry, and unwavering belief can carry a team far, it’s Nationals.
With players missing time for one reason or another, younger additions to the team have stepped in to fill the void and expand their own playmaking capacity. “Everyone just does what they’re supposed to do, and we have the chemistry and talent to make it look super seamless,” Fall said. “And now we’ve taken the next step. We have the same rules, but you can step a little further outside of your box and push those skills that you’ve been working on, but haven’t really been tested in games.” Players like Ben Greenberg, Moussa Dia, Jace Dean, and Luke Rehfuss have all expanded their proven capabilities this season. In a tournament where even the tiniest contribution can make a big difference, one of those unheralded players might make a big difference.
Truck Stop can credibly claim to roster the division’s best offense and defense, making their practice and preparation incredible competitive. “We’re lucky to be able to show up and get pushed,” Fall said. “Every time we show up to practice, I think there are stretches of time where we’ll get, like, one or two turns off our O-line, and that’s super frustrating, and that just motivates the D-line to get better.” A motivated Truck Stop that still consider themselves an underdog (there’s a reason for the Mighty Ducks-inspired jerseys) is a scary proposition for opposing teams. Though they sit at the sixth seed after their turbulent regular season, Truck Stop are every bit the championship contender fans have come to expect from DC.
Likely Ceiling: Championship
Likely Floor: Semis
Austin Doublewide
USAU Ranking: #12
Power Ranking: #11
Regional Finish: SC2
Overall 2024 Record: 13-4
Against the Nationals Field: 2-4
Against the Pool: 0-0
Doublewide will start 2024 Nationals where they left off in 2023: with a meaningful matchup against Revolver. Since the two teams’ last Nationals meeting, though, Doublewide have replaced over half their roster and are fully investing in their young players as the centerpieces of the team. While many respected veterans moved on to the Mixed and Masters divisions, recent college stars from around the region now dot the Doublewide roster. Texas’ Xavier Fuzat is wowing teammates and fans alike with his leveled-up throwing capabilities and powerful cutting. The opportunity to give growing talents like Fuzat, Emmanuel Bilolo, Alec Wilson Holliday, Samuel Morrall, Aaron Barcio, and Owen Smith high-pressure in-game experience will prove valuable for years to come, regardless of the literal outcomes of the games.
That’s not to say Doublewide do not have a chance to make some noise on the field too. Their brash, huck-happy style of play clashes with the small-ball meta preferred by many of the division’s top teams, and opposing defenses may not be as prepared for an offense that looks to score in fewer than 30 throws. While Doublewide won’t be favored to advance far in the bracket, they absolutely have the talent and systems to pull off the right upset at the right time to find themselves in a meaningful game after pool play completes.
Likely Ceiling: Quarters
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
Salt Lake Shrimp
USAU Ranking: #20
Power Ranking: #18
Regional Finish: NW4
Overall 2024 Record: 20-3
Against the Nationals Field: 0-1
Against the Pool: 0-0
“Our primary focus was just play meaningful games on Sunday of Regionals,” Shrimp captain Alex Walker admitted. “And we got to that point.”
Shrimp blew their expectations out of the water and right into the cocktail sauce of Nationals with a comeback performance that saw the team claim the final bid at Northwest Regionals.
Shrimp largely did very well at regional-level tournaments this season. They took just one loss at Colorado Summer Solstice and won Ski Town Classic. The whole time, their focus was giving high-leverage reps to younger players and balancing playing time, and they happened to do well enough at all of that to earn and keep a bid to Nationals.
With their lack of difficult games this season, Shrimp’s challenge at Nationals will not just be the increased level of play, but also the mental resilience needed to play three really difficult games in the same day – something they haven’t done (or, for that matter, had to do) before. The team believe they have enough talent to move on to the bracket, and they legitimately could play a meaningful game on Friday.
Like Doublewide, Shrimp are firmly in youth development mode. “It’s a lot of focus on buying into the youth who have performed so well at the YCC level,” captain Nathan Huff said. “I think we have 11 guys from those 2021-24 YCC teams who finished second, first, first, and third, and so a lot of buy-in into them first and then surrounding them with veterans.” Players like Oscar Brown, Nate De Morgan, Grayson Rettberg, Will Selfridge, and Sam Pew are at the center of the action with players like Huff, Kyle Weinberg, Ben Ashton, and Ethan Wimmer excelling in their roles around them.
Part of the excitement about making Nationals is the chance to see that young talent test themselves against the best players in the world. “I want to see our young boys play well, see them rise up to the occasion,” captain Elijah Watchalotone said. “They have in the past, but this is, you know, Club Nationals. It’s a lot bigger than what most of us have attended in the past.”
Likely Ceiling: Quarters
Likely Floor: Out on Day One
