Half the teams attending the 2025 D-III College Championships will be decided this weekend!
April 25, 2025 by Josh Katz and Calvin Ciorba in Preview
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2025 college ultimate season 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.
There are few more exciting portions of the ultimate calendar than spring College Regionals. For some, these events will be the culmination of a season — or even college career — while for others it’s just another step on their path toward the D-III College Championships in just three weeks. Count on plenty of dramatic action and unexpected results along the way as every team fights to ensure they fall into the latter group.
Five regions will take to the fields this weekend across the country to decide half of the representatives heading to Burlington to fight for a title. We’ve got you covered on the storylines to watch.
Great Lakes
Score Reporter
Location: Holland, MI
Favorites: #1 Davenport, ???
Contenders: Asbury, Hillsdale, Butler
Nationals Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
If you had told anyone on the Ultiworld staff prior to the season– nay, even in mid Mid-March– that the Great Lakes would have two bids by the end of the season, we would’ve called you crazy. Yet here we are, Regionals weekend and the Great Lakes has one of the strangest two bids we’ve ever seen.
With utmost certainty, the first bid will go to the Davenport Panthers, who sit at number one in the Ultiworld rankings and number eleven(!!!) in the overall D-I algorithm. This Davenport squad could even be considered as the favorites to make Nationals in the D-I Great Lakes, yes, they are that good. They won Huck Finn, defeating D-I bid earner WashU 9-5, and have walloped every other team except Michigan State in a snowy loss. Potential POTY Jacob Felton leads this D-III crew with a insane amount of talent to back him. Collin Hill, Rowan Jamieson, Darren Dyer, Alex Ballentine, Tyler Shanahan, Kai Creed and much more make the Panthers not only this year’s bid earning favorites, but Nationals’ title favorites.
The second bid is where things get wild. In the final two weeks of the season, the brand new team Asbury from Kentucky, decided to play exactly 10 games and dominated every game they played besides two one-point losses to D-I Illinois. Their top guys – Sifaan Amanu, Zeke Miller, Nicholas Riffell – all are rookies from the West Jessamine high school team that placed 7th at HSNI last year. With a roster of only seven guys, they defeated Butler, Hillsdale, and Xavier by ten points or more and shot up our rankings. Yet at Conferences, they shocked everyone again by losing twice each to Hillsdale and Butler, and it wasn’t even close. Were they not trying and playing their depth? Was every result they had prior fraudulent? Did the Great Lakes collude for a second bid because they couldn’t beat Davenport? We have no clue. Asbury could either go to Nationals in their first year as program or not even make the game-to-go.
The other possible favorite is Butler, who has been solid this season, sitting at 27th in the algorithm (and would be 26th in our rankings). Sam Ingham, one of the best bigs in the division, and Carter Hart, the rock handler, will be the players that will get Butler there. In the regular season they defeated Hillsdale 13-7, before Conferences where they lost to Hillsdale 15-10 in pool play, and finally beat Hillsdale 13-12 in the game to go. If things go like they did at Conferences, Butler will have to defeat Hillsdale one more time to reach Nationals for the second time ever and first since 2023.
Hillsdale of course has a chance as well, considering their results at Conferences. Greg Moreno of the UFA Detroit Mechanix is their best player, and lead them to a surprise game-to-go appearance last year. When push comes to shove, Moreno will be the top guy on the field and will have to play as much as possible to get the Chargers to their first-ever Nationals appearance.
Anything could happen this weekend in the Great Lakes, making it one of the most interesting Regionals weekends in a long time.
Metro East
Score Reporter
Location: Rochester, NY
Favorites: #4 Wesleyan, #9 Rochester
Contenders: Ithaca
Nationals Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥
In a shocking turn of events, the Metro East has two bids in 2025 – the first time since COVID Nationals gave the region an extra size bid. While the competition is heavily stacked in favor of the bid earners, its an impressive turn of events for what was once a bottom region in D-III.
The favorite to take down region this year are #4 Wesleyan Niestzch Factor. Wesleyan has quietly built a solid program in the last couple of years, and has fully come to form with a talented senior class. While they started their season slow with losses to Tufts B and Connecticut, they shocked everyone at D-III Easterns by reaching the final as a no.7 seed. They beat highly ranked Elon, Franciscan, and Lewis Clark, before falling to Elon by only two in the final.
The reasons for Niestzch Factor’s success? First of all, much of the credit must fall to seniors Jack Noble, Dennis Cha, Judah Hoffenburg, and Daniel Glickman. Noble, Hoffenberg, and Glickman run a fast faced dominator offense that is impossible to stop at times, thanks to their short ball movement and agility. Dennis Cha leads the D-line along with sophomore Eli Borgenicht-Fellus, that stifles offenses with a tight 4-2-1 zone, with their dominator set on the turn to get breaks. Secondly, former PoNY Coach Bryan Jones, is another major factor in Wesleyan’s recent trajectory. His offensive and defensive systems that utilize Wesleyan’s massive roster to its full potential is next level. All indications point to Wesleyan not facing a real test until the Regional finals and to see them at Nationals for the first time since 2021.
The two-time reigning Metro East Champs looking to defend their crown this weekend are the #9 Rochester Piggies. Rochester has dominated the region in recent years, even making the bracket of Nationals in the last two. Their 2025 regular season might be their best yet, as they’ve managed major upsets over Williams and Richmond, and earned the very last strength bid for the region. While in recent years their success has relied on their “faceless army,” key players have stepped up. David Leder is a force to be reckoned with in the handler space, as he uses his size and agility to manage his way open, being the release valve for the Piggies. Others like Cameron Lowe and Mitch Whisner on defense have infinite motors and won’t relent on offenses for throughout the the entirety of games.
While Rochester and Wesleyan haven’t met yet this season, they dismantled teams at Conferences, setting up an exciting regional final. The next nearest team in the rankings are Ithaca, down 20 spots in the D-III rankings, who Wesleyan easily took care of at Conferences twice. Although this is D-III and the Metro East, so anything can happen, it would be shocking if these two teams didn’t keep their bids.
North Central
Score Reporter
Location: Des Moines, IA
Favorites: #12 St. Olaf
Contenders: #14 Carleton
Nationals Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Let’s be real for a second. No region should feel more frustrated about the Great Lakes (Asbury) bid heist than the North Central. What should’ve been a two bid region for two easily Nationals-caliber teams became a one-bid tournament, the first time since 2018 that the North Central will send just one team to Nationals. While it makes for a far more exciting Regionals,1 it does mean the Nationals field will be weaker than it should be. But that’s a problem for next month. For now, we’ve got two teams on a collision course for an epic regional final, and maybe a couple other teams that could play spoiler.
Last year’s national champions, #12 St. Olaf, understandably took a step back this year after their mass exodus. It took some time for the Zerks to adjust to life without last year’s POTY and Donovan Award winner Will Brandt, as their regular season is littered with surprising defeats. Most notable among those defeats are: an 11-10 loss to Macalester Flat Earth at Gopher Dome, or a loss to D-I’s Mississippi State Dark Horse by the same score at Huck Finn. At Northwoods Conferences, however, they romped, never giving up more than eight goals in a game to establish themselves as North Central favorites. Behind that improvement is the growth of many of their role players from last year into this year’s stars. Jonas Geere is now their top defender and is steering the ship on the turn. Cade Ashland has grown from goal scoring extraordinaire to an all around weapon on offense. Grant Klebig, Owen Lemkuhl, and Carter Petrella have transitioned from complementary pieces to impact players.
While St. Olaf have surged as the year progressed, the story is the opposite for #14 Carleton CHOP. CHOP acquitted themselves well at Carolina Kickoff to, erm, kickoff the season, and followed that up with an undefeated showing at Gopher Dome (featuring a 13-7 win over the Zerks) and a third place finish at River City Showdown. But then Carleton took the last month of the regular season off, and the rust showed at Conferences, where they lost 15-8 to St. Olaf to cede the title of regional favorite. If they’re going to fully shake off the rust and win the North Central for the first time in the post-pandemic years, it’ll likely happen thanks to the strength of their handler core. Between Nathan Wang, Ben Garcia, and Danny Shope, CHOP have a trio of handlers that consistently keep the disc flowing from side to side, up and down the field. Those three keep the floor of the offense high, and Jonah Barer and Dash Brenner, two lightning fast cutters, raise its ceiling. When everything is clicking for CHOP on offense, it’s poetry in motion.
Behind the two effectively co-favorites are Macalester Flat Earth and Michigan Tech DiscoTech. To say Macalester’s season was a disappointment would be an understatement: after the rise of Kyle and Owen Suelflow, many expected Flat Earth to build on their game to go appearance last year and make Nationals for the first time in program history. Instead, it’s been one poor result after another for Macalester, and their 11-10 win over St. Olaf at Gopher Dome is nothing more than a faint memory. Had there been two bids available, you could maybe talk yourself into Macalester stealing a game and a bid. But likely needing to knock out both Olaf and CHOP? It’s probably not happening.
For DiscoTech, they’ve been close to a signature win numerous times this year, but always came up just short. If Clay and/or Colin Donajkowski were still around, you could envision a scenario where elite players step up late in a tight game to carry Michigan Tech to their first regional crown. But with both graduating last year, DiscoTech feel more like a team that needs a little bit of seasoning before becoming a true contender.
With just one bid available for the North Central, the Nationals field next month will be weaker than it should be. But Burlington’s loss is Des Moines’ gain, and Sunday’s regional final should be one of the best games to go of the season. It’ll be quite the shock if the last game of the weekend isn’t St. Olaf vs Carleton. But once the first pull goes up, your guess is as good as mine for who comes out victorious.
Ohio Valley
Score Reporter
Location: Fairborn, OH
Favorites: #13 Franciscan Fatal
Contenders: #19 Kenyon SERF, #25 Oberlin Horsecows
Nationals Bids: 1
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
It’s pretty rare for a one-bid region to host arguably the most exciting Regionals tournament, but when over half the field has a somewhat credible reason to think they can be the last ones standing on Sunday afternoon, there’s potential for serious fireworks. With a mixture of teams that may have peaked too soon, teams hitting their stride at just the right time, and teams coming out of nowhere to be a threat, it’s fair to say that anything is possible in Fairborn this weekend.
Leading the way in our Power Rankings are the longtime regional powerhouse, #13 Franciscan Fatal. Fatal started the year strong, going undefeated at River City Showdown and picking up a signature win against #2 Elon Big Fat Bomb along the way. It hasn’t been smooth sailing since that hot start, with Franciscan going just 4-3 at D-III Easterns and later losing in the finals at Conferences. Atop the roster is a pair of stars in Jude Schmiesing and Matthew Gregor, who both featured heavily on a dominant offense for Fatal last year at Nationals. This year, it seems Schmiesing is playing primarily on the D-line, giving Franciscan a more potent attack on the turn and allowing a more balanced approach to the handler roles on the O-line. Look for Justin Wallace, Taylor Lange, and Max Schmiesing, among many others, to feature in the backfield for Fatal.
Leading the way on the seeding list, however, are #19 Kenyon SERF, who upset Franciscan on universe in the finals at Conferences to surge back into the Power Rankings. Unlike Franciscan, things have only looked brighter for SERF as the season progressed. A difficult 3-4 showing at River City Showdown led into a near-flawless weekend at Meltdown, one that featured an upset victory over the reigning champions. After a 4-0 weekend at Ohio Conferences, buoyed by universe point wins over Oberlin and Franciscan, SERF are flying high. On offense, watch out for the trio of Liam Savona, Adam Blum, and Aidan Martin-Weinbaum. Savona and Blum, a pair of seniors, will do much of the handling, and Martin-Weinbaum’s explosiveness makes him an easy target anywhere on the field. Tobias Hughes leads the way on defense, taking on the toughest matchup on every possession.
For the second year in a row, #25 Oberlin decided to have a bafflingly poor performance at Conferences. Last year, they were able to rebound from a winless showing there to win the region while seeded seventh. This year, the Horsecows did manage to eke out a win over Xavier B.L.O.B, but lost their other three games, including a universe point loss to Cedarville Swarm. They’ll now enter Regionals seeded sixth, despite starting the Series second in the region by both USAU’s algorithm and our Power Rankings, and will once again need a Cinderella-like run to qualify for Nationals. If they manage to pull off that feat, it will likely be on the back of Ben Fuguet, an All-Region selection last year and one of the best handlers in the country. When Fuguet is on his game, the Horsecows offense is nearly impossible to stop, and he’ll have to play at that level all weekend for Oberlin to repeat as regional champions.
In between the second seeded Franciscan and sixth seeded Oberlin are a trio of teams with different reasons for intrigue. Seeded fifth are Cedarville Swarm, whose overall record is not that of a Nationals-caliber team. However, they did pick up that aforementioned win over Oberlin at Conferences, and played Kenyon within three at the same tournament. With a couple timely gusts of wind, Swarm could easily find themselves pulling off another upset or two.
In the fourth seed are the Messiah Falcons, who came agonizingly close to their first Nationals appearance last year, losing back to back games to go after surprisingly topping their pool. Like Cedarville, their overall record isn’t the greatest, though they do have a couple results to hang their hat on, such as a universe point loss to Kenyon at River City Showdown and a win over #23 Davidson DUFF at Easterns.
And seeded third are the ultimate wildcard, Scranton Electric City. They’ve barely played in the regular season since the pandemic, but have always been a tough out at Regionals in that time frame.2 This year is no different, with Electric City skipping the regular season entirely before dominating East Penn Conferences. They start Regionals with a game against Kenyon, a matchup that should tell plenty about what to expect from them the rest of the weekend.
Before the Series began, many would have pegged Franciscan as the favorites to win the region. Today, after Franciscan continued to falter at Conferences and some more contenders emerged, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will emerge with the lone Nationals bid on Sunday night. One thing is known for sure: whoever ends up with that bid will have more than earned it.
South Central
Score Reporter
Location: Tulsa, OK
Favorites: #7 Oklahoma Christian, #10 Colorado College
Contenders: #15 Missouri S&T, #21 Colorado School of Mines
Nationals Bids: 2
Excitement Level: 🔥🔥🔥
We round out this weekend’s Regionals previews with perhaps the strongest, deepest region in D-III. It’s been over a decade since the last time the South Central had just one bid to Nationals, three of the four post-pandemic champions have hailed from the SC, and a South Central team has made semis every year since 2017. This year appears to be no different, with four teams currently in our top 25 and two bids on the line in Tulsa.
The original scholarship school, Oklahoma Christian, leads the field. It’s been a season of inconsistency for OC: they started the year by going undefeated at Dust Bowl, played well against tough competition at Centex, and then struggled amid some injury issues at Huck Finn. They bounced back in a big way at Ozarks Conferences, steamrolling the field to stifle any concerns. As you’d expect from a scholarship program, there’s lots of big names and star power on the roster. Couper Kerns and Samuel Roberts, two Second Team All-American selections last year, return to lead the way. Kerns, who was also the second runner up for DPOTY last year, is the definition of a lockdown defender, always taking on a handler matchup and just making life miserable for his assignment. Roberts is a rarity in D-III, a metronomic handler who excels by keeping the disc moving in the natural flow of the offense, rather than constantly seeking out the defense-splitting huck. Emmanuel Kameri, the first runner up for DPOTY way back in 2022, is another name to watch for OC. Between him and Kerns, OC can run a variety of different defensive looks to stifle opposing offenses. And then there’s Luke Norby, a former USA U20 selection and a prized recruit out of Dallas. Norby is almost certainly the pick for the region’s ROTY award, and will likely be on the podium for the national award if OC make Nationals.
Second, first, first, third: those are Colorado College’s regionals finishes since the pandemic, though that third place finish left them two points away from Nationals last year. You’d fancy them to stop the Nationals-less streak before it begins based on their results this year: 5-1 to open the season at D-III Grand Prix, including an 11-9 win over #5 Whitman Sweets, third place at Snow Melt, and a tie for seventh at Centex that included another two goal win over a top five team, in this case #3 Middlebury Pranksters. They’ve also got the star power necessary to eke out wins in the bracket. Oliver van Linder, now two years removed from his ROTY performance, is a superstar in the making, having grown from his complementary role as a rookie to an offensive maestro. Getting him uncomfortable is step one for any team hoping to pull off an upset. Jack Hills, who tied for the team lead in goals as a first-year on Colorado College’s title team, is another player who’s ascended into a feature role for this edition of Wasabi. He’s not alone in that regard; loads of their complementary pieces in 2023 have grown into larger roles this year, a list that includes Matan Fields, Tanner Flagg, Leo McGaraghan, and Anders Pohlmann, among others.
Leading the chasing pack are the back-to-back-to-back regional runners up, Missouri S&T Miner Threat, hoping to make their third straight trip to Nationals. For Miner Threat, it’s a three-person show atop the roster: Sam Papin, Zach Sanders, and Wes Fransen. Papin is at the heart of everything, a defensive menace who led the team in blocks at each of the past two Nationals (and the whole division in 2023) while also being an excellent southpaw handler. Sanders is his O-line counterpart, another handler who tied Papin for the team lead in assists last year. Their favorite target is Fransen, a long and speedy cutter who attacks the endzone like he’s addicted to goals. He’s not their only cutter worth watching out for; Ian Byrne and James Landon are among the fastest players in the region, and will happily chase down any overthrown huck. It’ll be an uphill battle for sure, but Miner Threat have what it takes to pull off an upset and steal a bid.
The other serious threat to swipe a bid are Colorado School of Mines Entropy, who do have a proof of concept result in a universe point win over Colorado College at Snow Melt. Unfortunately, the rest of their resume indicates that that upset was nothing more than a flash in the pan. Still, we know Entropy’s peak performance would be enough to pull off the upset. Whether or not they can reach and sustain that peak will come down to their two junior stars, Randy Lahm and Derek Liebich. Lahm is the chef in the backfield; if he’s cooking, Entropy are flying high. As for Liebich, he’s a bit of a throwback as a cutter. He’s not going to win most matchups with his speed, but rather with his smarts and his hustle. The two of them are absolutely good enough to steal one game for Entropy this weekend. The difficult part will be doing that twice.
The bottom half of the field (in seed order: John Brown Ironfist, Truman State JujiTSU, Air Force Afterburn, and Harding Apocalypse) are likely not going to be playing bracket games past the first round of play on Sunday. Then again, it was only two years ago that Entropy rebounded from a winless day of pool play at this tournament to run through the backdoor bracket and snatch an unlikely trip to Nationals. When the top teams in the region beat up on each other, there’s always a chance for an underdog to sneak through. And with two bids on the line, you never know what might happen as the desperation sets in.
