22 teams converged in St. Louis to decide some of the last strength bids to Nationals, but it wasn't a D-I team that came out on top
March 31, 2025 by Aidan Thomas in Recap
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In the final weekend of regular season college ultimate, 24 teams converged on St. Louis, Missouri for Huck Finn. While #22 Washington University Contra represented the only ranked D-I team in attendance, two of Division III’s top three teams competed, the #3 Oklahoma Christian Eagles and #1 Davenport Panthers. It was the latter who stormed their way to a tournament victory with a 7-0 weekend, winning all their games by at least four points.
The tournament utilized a power pool format, with the top eight teams pitted against each other in two pools of four, all guaranteed entry into the knockout round. Meanwhile, the remaining 16 teams battled it out in regularly-seeded pools, with only the pool winners getting a shot at the first-place bracket. As teams battled for not only Nationals bids, but also regional bids in the final weekend, let’s take a look at how all the action played out.
Davenport Domination
The biggest storyline from this weekend may have been the emergence of a definitive title favorite in Division III. Davenport has rapidly built up their program and absolutely dominated the Huck Finn field this weekend, culminating in a 9-5 championship victory over Washington University. Like any newer program, Davenport is fueled by top-end talent, with do-it-all handler Jacob Felton providing a nightmare matchup for opponents all weekend long. Noah Schade and Juraj Hurny led the Panther D-line, with Schade quarterbacking the offense on turns and Hurny taking on the top handler matchup in each game.
Although still building up their program depth, Davenport showed that the current edition of their roster has the legs for a tournament run with a seven-game tirade through the field in St. Louis. Outside the win over Washington University, only 12-8 victories over Chicago Fission (No. 27 in USAU rankings) and Colorado State Hibida (No. 42) were decided by less than seven points.
Contra Fight for Third South Central Bid
Washington University had everything to lose at this tournament. Per USAU’s rankings, Contra sat No. 17, just one spot out of official bid-earning territory, but likely earning a bid once BYU CHI decline their bid, an annual occurrence. At a tournament with little in the way of ranked competition, Contra needed to dominate lesser competition to stay on the inside track to claim a third bid for the South Central.
The results proved mixed for Contra, and they’ll sweat out this bid to the buzzer, although early indicators from Cody Mills’ frisbee-rankings.com suggest they’ll be on the right side of the line. Contra put together a 6-1 weekend, but some close calls leading into the rough loss to Davenport left some to be desired for the host team. Saturday was of minimal difficulty, as Contra dispatched all four opponents with relative ease, punctuated by a 15-7 crossover win versus Chicago. As always, Cam Freeman served as the key cog in Contra’s offensive machine, a constant deep threat and/or bail-out option in windy conditions for Washington University.
After starting Sunday with a dominant 15-7 quarterfinal victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats, things got dicier for Contra. First up was a semifinal with 12th-seeded Purdue Undue, one of two squads from outside the power pools to crack the semis alongside 17th-seeded Notre Dame Papal Rage. Contra had to sweat that semifinal with a feisty Undue squad, claiming a tight 13-11 victory before a tough tournament finale in some ugly weather against Davenport. With those final two results likely losing them some points in the rankings, Contra (and regional rival Texas Tuff, dormant on the final weekend) will wait with bated breath on the final bid allocation announcements.
Notre Dame, Purdue Make Some Noise from Standard Pools
The power pool format always allows a chance for some Cinderella stories, a fun ode to March Madness. Teams outside the tournament’s top-eight seeds earn their way into bracket via winning their pool, then need a prequarters win over a power pool team to secure a spot in Sunday’s championship bracket. This year, three teams pulled off the feat, and both Purdue and Notre Dame went on to win their quarterfinal clashes. Cincinnati, seeded tenth, battled to a 6-1 record and fifth place finish after dropping their quarterfinal to Contra. William Wettengel was one of the sparkplugs in the strong weekend for the Bearcats.
For Purdue, Eric Palia led the way, with Undue’s road including a breezy three pool play victories, followed by a prequarters win over Oklahoma Christian. A quarterfinal win over Colorado State (12-9) sent Undue into the semifinals, where they pushed Contra to the brink before dropping to the third-place game.
Their opponent in that third-place game was a familiar face, with sectional and regional rival Notre Dame, led by senior captain Sean Miranda, putting together their best tournament of the spring. Papal Rage was the lowest seed in their pool but won all three games by six or more points. A late comeback over fourth-seeded Emory Juice in pre-quarters vaulted Rage into the quarterfinals. There, they ran roughshod over second-seeded Chicago before they hit the brick wall that was Davenport in the semifinals. They dropped their final game to Purdue, 11-9, to finish fourth.
Other Notes and Standouts
- Chicago continues to battle without star handler Grant Harris. Fission’s star thrower and quarterback of the offense remained on crutches at a Huck Finn that saw Chicago go 3-4 and finish sixth. Fission were also without Max Devine at this tournament. Tuhin Ghosh, a D-line stalwart turned O-line handler amidst injuries, led a gutsy effort for Chicago. He’ll need more where that came from if Harris can’t make it back for Regionals, where the Great Lakes will once again be a one-bid region, headlined by #23 Michigan Magnum.
- Stanford and Colorado State rounded out the championship bracket with seventh and eighth-place finishes respectively on Sunday. Multiple coaches noted Stanford’s Alexander Belfiore as one of the tournament’s top players, a tough handler with big backhand breaks that forced defenses to gameplan around him.
- Outside of the Notre Dame/Purdue duo, 19th-seeded Texas A&M Dozen saw the biggest jump from their seed to post-tournament finish, riding a 5-2 record that included a win over Oklahoma Christian on Sunday to 11th place.
