Club Season Primer 2025: Mixed Division

Doing our best to lay out the known knowns in a season with plenty of unknown unknowns.

June 27, 2025 by Laura Osterlund, Alex Rubin, Josh Katz and Edward Stephens in Preview

Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2025 club 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.

Ahead of Pro Elite Challenge, the first stop on the Triple Crown Tour and first big event of the 2025 club season, we’ve got you covered on all the major storylines, players to watch, and way-too-early semis picks in the Club Mixed Division.

Club Division 2025 Primers:   Men’s   |   Mixed   |   Women’s

To stay updated on the evolving storylines, teams, players, and games this season, support Ultiworld’s club season coverage and visit our subscription page.

Major Storylines

Can Hybrid Hang On?

Having spent four seasons climbing, #1 Ann Arbor Hybrid finally made it to the top last season by winning the US Open and USAU Nationals. But, as everyone knows, in the words of Mia Hamm: “It is more difficult to stay at the top than it is to get there.”

Why They Won’t:

Now facing the pressure as the reigning champs, Hybrid will no longer be the oft-overlooked “Midwest flyover state team,” but will now join the ranks as the biggest team to beat this season. Last season, one play style that served them well was playing as if they had nothing to lose — they took big shots that worked out and did not always play purely systematic offense. While odds are good that they will get many wins if they continue to do so this season, it likely won’t always work for the reigning champs.

Not to mention the overall unpredictability of the mixed division as a whole. With parity aplenty, recent results have shown¹ that back-to-back up years is a hard commodity to find.

Why they will:

With a majority of their heavy hitters and mainstays – such as Tracey Lo, Kat McGuire, Aaron Bartlett, and Nathan Champoux, to name a few – back again, they’ll have the consistency in their personnel to set them up for success. Sure, they lose James Hill, Adam Stautburg, and Theo Shapinsky. Still, with Lili Hobday, Courtney Walbe, Abe Coffin, and Annie Meilink joining the ranks, they are only adding depth to an already experienced roster.

Not only did the team end their season on an all-time high note, but many of their players had quite the off-season. Bartlett and Calliope Cutchins are currently representing Team USA at U24 Worlds, and eight of their WMPs played together in a highly successful Indy Red season that resulted in an appearance at PUL Championship Weekend. They’ve faced the pressures of the big stages more than once and won’t hold back if they do it again.

Introducing… Your 2025 Glow-Up Squad

Check your priors at the door, because someone you didn’t think much about is set to make a huge splash out of nowhere. You know how you’ve decided Sprocket are one of the division’s mainstays? Well, what did you think of them before the 2024 season started? Nationals-level maybe, and in any case an afterthought.  This season is going to show us another massive glow-up from the field.

Who is it likely to be? There are a lot of contenders. #8 Sacramento Tower, coalescing around one-time Player of the Year Robyn Fennig’s leadership and lights-out throwing, and building a supportive, competitive community are on the short list, but could also be a year away. #7 Austin Disco Club and #11 Washington DC Rally are also great candidates to leap forward in return trips to Nationals: they’re both at least as good as they were last year. And #10 Arizona Lawless continue to build a fantastic supporting cast around their all-around offensive star Travis Dunn.

But here’s the real tea: #13 Huntsville Space Force are the most likely team to launch up the charts to quarters or better in 2025. They have all the best talent in their community (and plenty from around the region), they have been building commitment for years, and they’ve got several players (Sean Connole, Mia Griner, Madison Oakman) poised to bust out in a major way. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, they are going to be the tallest team at Nationals. The torch will pass this year, and Space Force are next in line.

Who Are the New Nationals Teams?

Just like it seems every year features a surprise team in semis, the mixed division typically welcomes a handful of teams making their Nationals debut. Last season, Disco Club reached Nationals as a brand new team while #8 Sacramento Tower finally found their way to the final weekend of the season after a few years of increasing competitiveness. While there are not yet any truly new teams on our radar, there are a few teams who could mimic Tower by earning a bid to Nationals after years of seasons ending at regionals.

#16 Denver Mile High Trash have spent the last few years among the top teams in the South Central without really presenting a credible case to make Nationals, but this season they are assembling a squad that certainly seems capable of earning and defending a bid. With Ari Nelson, Allysha Dixon, and Abby Thorpe leading a strong returning class, newcomers with Nationals experience like Felix Pronove, Joel Ives (both formerly of Denver Love Tractor), Fiona Cashin (Athens Murmur) and Riley Kirkman-Davis (San Francisco Revolver) can help push the team towards San Diego.

#23 California Burrito don’t need to travel to get to San Diego – the team is based out of the Nationals host city – and they also are the beneficiaries of an influx of talent that could push an already competitive team to a new level. Khalif El-Salaam (formerly of Seattle Mixtape) headlines a group of additions that includes local semi-pro stars (Naomi Guzman, Jessica Martinez, Thomas Konogeris, and Peter Lenz) along with a former national champion in Theresa Zettner, who was on last season’s Hybrid team. In a crowded Southwest region, it will be tough for another team to break in (in no particular order, Lawless, Mischief, Polar Bears, and Tower will all be vying for spots at Nationals). However, if California Burrito can stuff some chemistry into their season the way a street vendor stuffs french fries into a tortilla-wrapped lunch, this team has everything they need to play at Nationals in their own backyard.

Tiered Power Rankings

Tier 1 – Possible Champs

These teams all have the talent, systems, experience, and motivation to lift the trophy come October.

• Ann Arbor Hybrid
• Fort Collins shame.
• Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust
• Seattle BFG

Tier 2 – Semis Shot

The best iteration of these teams will be playing in a San Diego stadium this fall.

• New York XIST
• Boston Sprocket
• Boston Slow

Tier 3 – Absolute Wildcards

The talent on these teams indicates a Nationals bracket run. The talent of the other teams in their region indicates that a regionals flop is possible.

• Austin Disco Club
• Arizona Lawless
• San Francisco Mischief
• Seattle Mixtape

Tier 4 – No Guarantees

These recent Nationals teams have their work cut out for them in competitive regions to earn an additional bid to Nationals or come out on top of tough regional tournaments to advance.

• Sacramento Tower
• Washington DC Rally
• Philadelphia AMP
• Huntsville Space Force
• San Francisco Polar Bears
• Nashville ‘Shine
• Durham Toro

Tier 5 – New Kids on the Block

This set of new teams or new-to-the-elite-level teams all have Nationals aspirations, but it’s likely that only a few will get in.

• Denver Mile High Trash
• Savannah Conspiracy
• California Burrito

Tier 6 – Trust the Process

Each of these teams can also hold legitimate Nationals aspirations, but they’ll need to build a bit more from the ground up than the teams listed ahead of them.

• Montana MOONDOG
• Burlington Big Rig
• Madison NOISE
• Ithaca Townies

 

Preseason Rankings

 

Bid Range Per Region

Great Lakes – Minimum: 1 / Maximum: 1

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1. See shame. and Mixtape’s seasons following their national title wins ↩