Recognizing the next top seven performers of the 2024 season.
November 13, 2024 by Felicia Zheng, Zack Davis, Graham Gerhart and Edward Stephens in Awards with 0 comments
Ultiworld is pleased to announce our annual Club Awards, continuing with the All-Club Second Team. While we consider both regular season and postseason performance, because of the nature of the Club division, we weight success in the Series and at Nationals above all else. This year, with an uneven regular season, the postseason emphasis is perhaps greater than ever.
Our All-Club teams recognize the top performers across the division. Our First Team and Second Team display the top seven and next seven players who had the best seasons. The Club Awards are voted on by Ultiworld reporters, contributors, and editors.
Player of the Year Award
All-Club First Team
All-Club Second Team
Defensive Player of the Year Award (Coming soon)
Offensive Player of the Year Award
Breakout Player of the Year Award (Coming soon)
Coach(es) of the Year Award (Coming soon)
Club Awards Voting Breakdown (Coming soon)
Snubs and Superlatives (Coming soon)
All-Club 2024 Second Team
Brit Dos Santos (6ixers)
Brit Dos Santos led a surging 6ixers squad on a deep bracket run at Nationals this season. The versatile star showed off her range with 11 goals and 23 assists over the course of the tournament, taking third in the division in assists. Dos Santos’ ability to make the most difficult throws seem easy while also threatening downfield with plays like this make her one of the hardest players in the division to stop. With her dominant performances, Dos Santos continues to cement her legacy as one of Canada’s ultimate greats.
Claire Chastain (Molly Brown)
If you’re at all familiar with the women’s division, you are familiar with Claire Chastain. The stalwart captain of Molly Brown continues to impress year after year with their out-work-everyone game play and ability to generate highlight plays. Their field awareness and athleticism often combine to catapult them above the competition, and this year was no different: Chastain recorded an impressive 8G/13A/3B over the course of Nationals. Add another impressive chapter to the already illustrious career of Claire Chastain.
Kami Groom (Scandal)
It’s been a busy year for Kami Groom, from a gold medal on the world stage with Team USA to another championship game appearance at Nationals with Scandal. The 2023 DPOTY continues to make her presence felt on the field with her unmatched speed and quick reads. With over a decade of elite ultimate experience, Groom is a player that feels simply undeniable. Her impact was particularly evident in Scandal’s close 15-14 victory over BENT to cinch their pool at Nationals, where she notched an impressive 2G/4A/1D stat line to help DC close out the game, showcasing the takeover power that has made Groom a cornerstone of the division.
Kirstin Johnson (Fury)
The challenge with Fury every year is trying to pick out which individual players deserve any more accolades than another. The team is simply too deep and too collaborative. Johnson has been molded in that system but somehow rose above the rest in 2024 with some of the best defensive effort seen from the seasoned handler since joining the team in 2018. Johnson seemed to push her body to the limit with defensive plays, all while taking on the toughest assignments possible. Her elite awareness when playing on the margins of the field gave her an advantage over the competition that paid off at least once every game. The fact that her offensive prowess is almost an afterthought is just a testament to how complete Johnson’s season was in 2024, and she might still be underrated even after being given her flowers.
Trout Weybright (Schwa)
There are a lot of rising stars in the Oregon ultimate community, but none were as bright as Weybright this year. The natural instincts on display from Schwa’s young phenom turned them into one of the most aggressive offensive options at Nationals. Even the riskier decisions from Weybright almost always came out in their favor. The pace and determination they played with is reminiscent of many other players they’re joining on this year’s All Club roster. Weybright still has more to give and Schwa seems like the right opportunity for them. Expect many more appearances from Weybright in the future.
Valeria Cárdenas (Molly Brown)
Much digital ink has been spilt about Valeria Cárdenas’ prowess as an ultimate player, and when watching her play it’s abundantly clear why that’s the case. They say an expert hits a target no one else can, but a genius hits a target no one else can see; Vale makes throws no one else can conceive of. On top of that, as easy as it would be to just say she’s a great handler, it’s really her quickness and ruthlessness on defense that puts her a cut above. If you’re in search of inspiration as an offensive handler, look no farther than Valeria Cárdenas.
Yina Cartagena (BENT)
Is there anyone who is more of a pure thrower in all of club than Yina Cartagena? The BENT handler’s assists-to-goals ratio was an astoundingly eccentric 28:1 at Nationals. With Cartagena, though, it’s about more than the raw numbers. She’s incisive in ways that other players can only dream about and one of one when it comes to unflappability. Cartagena’s confidence, experience, determination, and, of course, silky around breaks were tremendous assets for a club that continued to find greater heights and were a couple of scores away from really throwing Nationals into chaos.
