Your guide to the biggest players, teams, and stories of the 2026 D-III college season!
January 30, 2026 by Josh Katz, Calvin Ciorba, Graham Gordon, Hunter Lang and Alex Rubin in Coverage, Preview
Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 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.
A few weeks after the New Year’s ball drops, the murmur of the coming college season begins in earnest. By the time it’s nearly February, the whirring of the hype machine is hitting a fever pitch. As the first major tournament weekend approaches, we want to make sure you’re fully prepared for another uproarious college season. Like those that came before it, get ready for the ups, the downs, the thrillers, the stars, the new kids, and all of the wonderful things that make college ultimate so beloved with our annual College Primer.
Major Storylines
Can Lewis & Clark Repeat? A Look Back at the 2025 Semifinalists
The composition of the 2025 semifinal field reflected a changing D-III landscape, with none of the four qualifiers returning from the 2024 final four. Lewis & Clark, Middlebury, Davenport, and Carleton delivered what was arguably the most exciting set of semifinals and final the division has seen this decade. In the end, Lewis & Clark Bacchus edged past Middlebury in an exhilarating universe point final to claim the program’s first national title. With graduations, exciting rookies, and further player development, these teams no longer look the same as they did in 2025. Let’s examine the three returning 2025 semifinalists who qualified this season (excluding Davenport who joins the D-I division this year) and assess whether each has the pieces to contend for a national title in 2026.
Lewis & Clark
Why They Will
If Lewis & Clark’s title run last year felt like a shock to some observers, it’s likely because they hadn’t been paying close enough attention. Since their first attempt of meaningful competition at D-III FCS Tune Up in 2023, Bacchus has quietly built a winning program designed to last. One of the strongest coaching staffs in the country has developed systems that stifled teams across the country. Second Team All-American Orlando Impas is among the craftiest throwers in D-III and will once again steer the offense alongside fiery ROTY runner-up Sam London. Assists leader Charlie Wagner and defensive stalwart Levi Stahl also return, providing continuity on both sides of the disc. Continuing the Minnesota to Portland pipeline (i.e. Leo Farley, Charlie Wagner, Jonas Bray) with rookie Joe Woessner, and Bacchus has a legitimate path back to glory.
Why They Won’t
Any discussion of Lewis & Clark’s repeat chances has to acknowledge the growing curse of D-III. Since Oklahoma Christian’s championship in 2022, each reigning D-III victor has failed to make Nationals the following year. (Colorado College in 2024, St Olaf in 2023). Beyond superstition, though, there are tangible concerns. Bacchus cannot hide the fact that they graduated 10 seniors, including defensive machine Max Zwerin, the toe-tapping Leo Farley, and the calming handler presence of Topher Olsen. Although Lewis & Clark’s system has proven resilient, replacing the level of experience and talent is no small task, especially when other top teams graduate so few. Even if the curse does not strike again, Bacchus enters 2026 with more questions than reassurances in their pursuit of a repeat title.
Middlebury
Why They Will
Most teams would struggle to recover from the way Middlebury’s 2025 season ended. The Pranksters tore through pool play, including a six-goal win over Lewis & Clark, before knocking off the division’s goliath, Davenport, in one of the most electric games of the year. Everything changed in the final, however, when star Louis Douville Beaudoin (LDB) suffered a hamstring injury that severely limited him down the stretch, and Middlebury ultimately fell on double game point.
Now heading into 2026, Middlebury’s veteran core enters what amounts to a full-fledged revenge tour. Peter Mans, LDB, and Geir Hartl have been a part of one of the most highly discussed classes since their arrival in 2023 have one last year to cement their legacies. Oscar de Swaan Arons, who emerged as a difference-maker last year after previously playing with the B-team, looks poised to build on his late-season surge. Perhaps most notably, the Pranksters will have head coach Hannah Baranes for the full season after only having her help at Nationals last year. For a program that once took pride in its lack of coaching, that commitment signals just how seriously Middlebury is approaching its championship window in 2026.
Why They Won’t
There’s no denying Middlebury holds all the pieces necessary to win a championship. Yet we’ve said the same exact thing every single year since their last title in 2019. Despite being a top-four-ranked team every year this decade, the Pranksters have lost in three finals appearances. For whatever reason, Middlebury has struggled to deliver in the biggest moment. As always, it will all come down to Monday of Nationals– and only then will we see if this year’s iteration of the Vermont squad is capable of turning talent and expectation into a championship.
Carleton CHOP
Why They Will
Although not many predicted CHOP to earn a spot in the semifinals last year, they left no doubt about their talent when push came to shove. Carleton defeated #2 Elon in pool play, walloped Bowdoin in quarters, and only lost to Lewis & Clark by two in the semis. CHOP is one of the few teams that are reloading this year, losing only one major contributor in Alex Gran, as well as Coach Michael Massad. All-American Nathan Wang, ROTY runner-up Dash Brenner, Danny Shope, and Julian Kägi all return– with most having multiple years of eligibility left. Another year of strong CUT recruiting has also trickled into a strong CHOP freshman class, as they pick up Chris Epply and Henry Horstman Olson who played Sacramento Tower and Minnesota Superior U20, respectively. With another year of development under their belts after a fantastic 2025, the Northfield crew contains the ingredients for its first championship since 2012.
Why They Won’t
Typically in D-III, teams find significant postseason success riding on their star power from a couple of players (think about Max Zwerin, Will Brandt, Lincoln Grench, Elliot Moore). In the past couple of seasons, however, CHOP has used a more faceless army technique – relying on their depth and strong systems to earn quality results. While a few names began to emerge last year, it feels like CHOP is still missing that elite player to get them out of high pressure situations and when systems break down. At the club level, the highest competition any Carleton player competed at this summer came from a freshman who played with Tower, while the rest of the roster suited up primarily for lower-level regional club teams. When brackets tighten, and every possession matters, the lingering question remains: does CHOP have the top-end talent to go point-for-point with stars like Brayden Morrison, Louis Douville Beaudoin, or Orlando Impas? Only time will tell.
– Calvin Ciorba
End of the Scholarship Era in D-III?
The era of scholarship ultimate in D-III began innocuously enough – with a Reddit post in late 2019. The sport seemed a long way from scholarships, and no one had ever heard of Oklahoma Christian, so many figured it would be a short-lived flash in the pan. But then they picked up a former YCC star or two. And a couple of players from overseas came to the university, specifically to play ultimate. Then, in early 2020, a bombshell: the top three players from an Air Force team that had just lost in a final to a loaded Middlebury team were coming on board for the spring season.
Although the silver medalists never suited up for OC, the announcement fundamentally shifted the landscape of the division. The 2021-2022 academic year was OC’s coming out party: a gold medalist in Norco, and they quickly followed it up with another in the spring. It looked like a new era in the D-III men’s division had arrived.
And then another scholarship program popped up 900 miles north of the first. Expectations were tempered for 2024 Davenport: Jacob Felton was sure to be a monster in the division, but without any other big names, no one was quite sure what the ceiling was. And then they won the Great Lakes region. And upset Lewis & Clark in pool play, and division stalwart Carleton CHOP in prequarters, before losing a hotly contested matchup against their fellow scholarship program. No one expected a flipping of scripts in 2025. But Davenport brought in even more talent and tore up the division, losing only one game before dropping a semi against Middlebury. With a strong recruiting pipeline, they seemed poised to take over the division.
But the tide has turned. Davenport has moved down to D-I. Meanwhile, OC is coming off a disappointing loss in the prequarters and is currently without the coach who launched the scholarship program—or any coach at all. The program lacks its once-active recruiting presence, and star freshmen Luke Norby and Alex Babler have both transferred. A glance at Oklahoma Christian’s social media tells the story of an ultimate program no longer backed or marketed by its university with the same fervor. By all accounts, the university-supported scholarship model is coming to a close.
When Couper Kerns, Sammy Roberts, Emmanuel Kameri, and co. take the field this year, it may be the last time we see a scholarship program in the division for some time. Will OC be the last team in D-III to run a scholarship program? Doubtful. But future teams will struggle to hit the highs that this program has. This year’s team has the star power to compete with anyone in the division, and as good a chance to win a title as anyone outside of Middlebury. When we watch OC this year, we should appreciate the ultimate results of what was a bold and innovative strategy for consistently competing in a parity-rich division. But a chapter that once seemed like the future of the division, and the sport, may be coming to a close less than 10 years after it started.
– Hunter Lang
New Year, New Teams
Last November, USA Ultimate dropped an impromptu press release, announcing that the enrollment threshold for D-III was being raised from 7,500 to 10,000 students. The change was not entirely unexpected–USAU’s 2025 Competition Working Group Updates hinted that they were considering an update to the D-III guidelines–but the sudden nature of the change means that we’re still figuring out the ramifications of the expanded division. The picture probably won’t be fully clear until we get to the Series, but in the meantime, USAU estimates that up to 33 new teams will be added to the division.
Immediately, the prospect of adding more teams to D-III makes for more standard approaches to the Series. Increasingly, regions play a single ConfRegionals tournament for the Series due to a lack of teams in the region. We already know that Santa Clara SCAB will be moving to D-III, putting a fourth team (back) in the Southwest and making their ConfRegionals slightly more reasonable.1 There’s also Minnesota-Duluth Northern Lights joining the North Central, adding more depth to what might already be D-III’s deepest region right now, and potentially other Minnesota and/or Wisconsin satellite campuses as well. The Atlantic Coast, which has seen its numbers dwindle significantly post-pandemic, will gain Wake Forest Well Oiled Machine, Baby and potentially others. We’ll see how much these additions affect the overall Nationals bid picture in the coming months, but for now, an expanded D-III is a good step towards a more uniform Series.
One team that didn’t compete in D-III last year that will almost certainly affect the postseason outlook is Ave Maria. After back-to-back years of losing on universe point in the game to go at ConfRegionals, Ave Maria decided to try their hand at D-I in 2025. They posted an undefeated regular season against mostly D-I Regionals-level competition and finished well within D-III bid earning range in the final regular season rankings, before stumbling to a fifth place finish at Southeast D-I Regionals. But they’re back to D-III in 2026, and with Berry significantly weaker than the last time these two teams met, thanks to the graduations of Collin Hill and Ian VanOrder, Ave Maria enters the year as favorites to finally make their Nationals debut in Waukegan.
– Josh Katz
Who’s Filling the Last Semis Slot?
In the 12 days of Ultimate D-III Way Too Early Staff Picks, all staff members included Middlebury and CHOP among teams pegged to advance to semifinals. With Lewis & Clark as the returning champs and already discussed above, the next big question is which team can make the leap to join them in semis in 2026? Three young teams that will try to make the jump into the elite tier are Franciscan, Claremont, and Elon. All three teams qualified for Nationals last year, but Franciscan was eliminated in pool play, Claremont lost a back-and-forth game with Rochester in PreQs, and Elon lost to Davenport in Quarters. What each team has going for them is the paucity of players lost and the experience gained for such young rosters. Franciscan and Elon both lost only a few players who played complementary roles for them, while Claremont had no Seniors on last year’s team. From there, the three teams have very different paths to be one of the last teams standing at Nationals.
Claremont is a team deep with talent but did not have the star player to take over the game that David Leder and Cameron Lowe were for Rochester. Claremont uses the regular season to develop their team as their region has not earned a strength bid since 2011. The Braineaters don’t chase results as they grow over the season to try to peak at Regionals and Nationals. Does Claremont change tactics this season to try to test their mettle against better teams to crack into the upper echelon? With Claremont only adding talent going into 2026 with the addition of U20 invitee Charlie Palmer, this could be their year to return to semis for the first time since 2014. If they are to do so, look to cutter Jacques Paradis and handler Isamu Sims as the two most likely to make the jump and become All-Americans.
Franciscan is led by rising senior Jude Schmiesing, who threw 25 assists at Nationals in 2025 and had 21 assists the year before. If you watched Franciscan last year, you would see Jude play an absurd number of points serving as the main throwing engine, while the rest of the team got open, played tough D, and limited their mistakes. Franciscan rode this formula to some strong early-season results, winning the D-III River City Showdown and being ranked as high as #2 in the Ultiworld March 26th rankings. However, that formula got shaky as Franciscan had a disappointing D3 Easterns and continued with a loss to Kenyon at Conferences. Though Franciscan rallied to win the Ohio Valley Region, they lost their three pool play games to open Nationals. The OV region always has drama and good teams galore, so Franciscan will want to work hard to earn an extra bid for the region. However, their long term success at Nationals will depend on their ability to find or develop a few more players who can shoulder some of the load to get some wins in May.
Elon finally returned to D-III Nationals in 2025 after a decade since their last appearance in 2015. Led by the Morrison brothers, Kalen and Brayden, and junior Reed Burkert, Elon made a run to quarters before falling short to Davenport in a hotly contested game. The result may have been disappointing relative to their #2 seed entering the tournament and winning D3 Easterns to end the regular season. However, Elon was without a coach, and the gauntlet of Nationals was something they had not faced before. Elon is a team that runs hot, and they can cook when everything is calibrated. But with their intensity comes the chance of derailing as they nearly fell to OC in PreQs and got into chippy games with OC and Davenport. Unlike Franciscan and Claremont, they already have the pieces to make it to Semis. But they have to learn to put the pieces together in order to not self combust before then. With their returning talent and Brayden Morrison and Reed Burkert getting Club Nationals experience with Ring of Fire and RDU, respectively, the sky is the limit for this team. But Elon Big Fat Bomb can blow a hole in the floor if they aren’t careful.
– Matt Graves
Players to Watch
Some of the players we think will define the 2026 college season.
Louis Douville Beaudoin (Middlebury)
If it were not for his hamstring injury warming up for the finals, Louis Douville Beaudoin had a great shot at winning the 2025 Player of the Year award and easily could have made the difference in Middlebury’s universe loss. Fresh off a U24 Worlds gold medal and a standout club season in which he led Boston Slow in goals at Nationals, it’s difficult to argue against LDB as the most experienced player in the division entering 2026. Between his daunting lefty pulls, crushing break throws, deceptive speed, do not be surprised if he supplants his own teammate to claim player of the year this season.
Orlando Impas (Lewis & Clark)
Speed, throwing, and confidence—what more could you want from a D-III player? Orlando Impas checked every box during his 2025 breakout campaign, piling up 15 assists against just 9 turnovers in Burlington. The year reached its peak when Impas delivered a stall-nine dime on universe point to win a national championship, capping off a remarkable junior season. Now entering his senior year, Impas will shoulder an even heavier load as the focal point of Bacchus’ offense, with opponents game-planning to stop him first and foremost.
Peter Mans (Middlebury)
Middlebury is the clear favorites for the championship in 2026, and a big reason why is the play of Peter Mans. Mans was simply phenomenal last year, doing anything and everything the Pranksters asked of him. But his standout skill was his hucking ability: letting him step into his signature left handed deep shot was akin to conceding defeat for the point. Frankly, with how easy he made things look on the field, it sometimes felt like he was just toying with the defense for his own amusement. Another 10G/20A Nationals seems like a reasonable floor for Mans’ 2026, and his ceiling is probably somewhere around the greatest Nationals campaigns we’ve ever seen.
Brayden Morrison (Elon)
Already one of the best players in the D-III division last year as a freshman, Brayden Morrison is primed for another big year with Big Fat Bomb. After a club season developing with Ring of Fire, Morrison will have all the tricks in his bag necessary to carve up D-III teams with few who can guard him. Break throws, hucks, cutting, defense– Morrison can do it all. If Elon reaches the final this year, he will be a main reason for that success.
Sammy Roberts (Oklahoma Christian)
We have been writing about Sammy Roberts ever since his ROTY performance back in 2022, yet it would be a disservice not to write about him one more time in his last year at Oklahoma Christian. Last year, Roberts was the heart and soul of the Eagles, player-coaching and captaining a group in their first year without a formal coach. Thanks to his experience and expertise, the Eagles made the bracket, while Roberts led the division at 29 assists. His craftsmanship is one of the best in D-III, and defenders must always be aware that his next throw could go anywhere. In his fifth and final year, Roberts will aim for his fifth-straight Nationals with the Eagles.
Jude Schmiesing (Franciscan)
Nothing better than having your best player be your team’s best thrower. Other than having your team’s best player be one of the best throwers in the division. When things get tight, the ball is going to be in Schmiesing’s hands, and he’s going to make throws most players wouldn’t even consider throwing, let alone completing. A certified go-get-it-guy who can and will get open on anyone, and will do some serious damage when he gets the rock. With another year of college and club (Pittsburgh Temper) under his belt, expect Jude to again be among the division’s leaders in assists.
Kyle and Owen Suelflow (Macalester)
The Suelflow twins help answer the age-old question of what happens when high-level athletes are recruited into ultimate and how fast they take off. Despite only starting the sport in their freshman year of college, their skills and reputation have increased exponentially. Kyle and Owen both played on a team that went 1-19 in their first year of club, before earning spots on Drag’n Thrust with meaningful minutes the following season. That same year, Kyle even earned a spot on the U24 National team and eventually won gold in the mixed division. Now, all that remains for the Sueflows is a D-III Nationals appearance. With their athleticism and throwing prowess, the twins will have one final attempt with Macalester, hoping to earn their first ever Nationals appearance as a program.
Rising Stars
Big contributors to their teams who could make waves in the national spotlight for 2026.
Dash Brenner (Carleton)
If you’re not a believer in nominative determinism, Dash Brenner should make you reconsider. One of the fastest players in the division, Brenner more than earned his name at his first nationals last year, serving as a key piece of the Carelton CHOP O-line. After a second club season playing with Boston Scoop, Brenner is poised to jump from one of the best rookies in the division to one of the best players. Picking the 2025 runner-up for D-III Men’s Rookie of the Year as a rising star ready to dominate hardly qualifies as bold. But with the offseason over and done with, the time for Dash Brenner has arrived.
Isamu Sims (Claremont)
Isamu Sims should be every coach’s favorite player. A well-rounded talent who has the ability to take over a point or a matchup, but with the discernment to pick and choose the right spots to fill in gaps, Sims can be deployed in numerous ways. A polished thrower, Sims could be on either end of a set play design, and there are few players more adept at getting off tight arounds or moving the disc to the right part of the field. A lot of talented D-III players center themselves and use their skills to funnel the disc through them. Sims does the opposite, using his own skill to complement that of his teammates, and playing really good defense too. Claremont is yet again a trendy pick to make the Nationals bracket; while the team has plenty of talent, their ceiling is so high because Sims makes the players around him better.
Owen Stout (UNC Asheville)
After a breakout performance at last year’s River City Showdown, fans of the division were wondering who was involved in UNC Asheville’s success. One of the key contributors to the young roster was sophomore defensive phenom Owen Stout. Heading into his junior year with the Club Nationals experience with Durham Toro, Stout is ready to make a name for himself in the 10,000 club. With an explosiveness that is hard to match and steady disc skills on a turn, Stout looks to get Mudpuppy back to Nationals.
Zach Widmyer (Bowdoin)
It’s understandable that much of the attention for Bowdoin last year went towards Cole Fairfield: when you score the second most goals ever at a single D-III Nationals, you’re going to get lots of plaudits. But someone had to throw him those goals, and more often than not, that someone was Zach Widmyer. It’s not easy stepping into the center handler role for a team with Nationals aspirations, but Widmyer was calm and composed as Clown’s main facilitator. If he can make the leap to full blown superstar status this year, Bowdoin will have an excellent chance at returning to Nationals.
You’re All Underrating…
Claremont Braineaters
If we’re just allowed to write about our favorite teams, let me fill you all in on the Braineaters. All those Richmond fans in the writers’ room might remember that Claremont upset Richmond (and Oklahoma Christian) last season on its way to a bracket appearance. Few players in the division have club Nationals bracket experience, so it stands out that Claremont is led by Arenaria Cramer, who can bring that winning know-how in their senior season. With plenty of strong returning players and a new coach on board, the Brains are combining the positive experience from last season with a healthy set of expectations for increased competition this year. The last time Claremont had a set of upperclass players this strong, they made the quarterfinal round. They certainly could do it again this year.
– Alex Rubin
Colorado College Wasabi
Okay yes, I wrote this same exact blurb last year. However! Before Colorado College once again fell to Missouri S&T in the game-to-go, they were one of the better teams in the division a season ago. Don’t forget they won games over Whitman and Middlebury (!!) before losing 2023 ROTY Oliver Van Linder to an ACL injury at Regionals. With Van Linder healthy again, and the talented rookie class from the championship 2023 year now playing their senior seasons, expect Wasabi to make Nationals once again and jump in our power rankings.
– Calvin Ciorba
Williams WUFO
Sure, Charles Tantum has graduated, robbing WUFO of one of the division’s greatest athletes. But they still have Wade Buchheit and Adam Kohn to handle, and David Kimberly could be poised to take Tantum’s place as Williams’ long and imposing downfield threat. Plus, they recruited well, adding a rookie with YCC and high-level club experience in Ryder White. With the way Williams have developed talent over the last couple years, is it that hard to envision a couple more unexpected stars popping up, giving WUFO a similarly deep core to build around like they had earlier in the decade?
– Josh Katz
Richmond Spidermonkeys
I can hear the outrage now: “Ultiworld has too many Spidermonkeys on the payroll; stop writing about Richmond.” Fair critique. But few programs have produced and lost the talent that Richmond has over the last decade, and fewer have been able to make semis as consistently. The biggest reason for that is head coach Matt Graves. A two-time Ultiworld Coach of the Year and one of the longest tenured coaches in the division, he has gotten the Spidermonkeys to Nationals in all but two of his years as coach. If you want to watch a masterclass of coaching and development, watch the Spidermonkeys in their first tournament vs. their last. I’ll only start picking against the Spidermonkeys when Matt Graves stops coaching. Despite an Elon juggernaut in the Atlantic Coast, expect Richmond to earn and secure a bid to Nationals once again.
– Hunter Lang
Ithaca Nawshus
Ithaca isn’t ranked yet, but come back to this article after Nawshus’ first tournament. Trust.
– Calvin Ciorba
The Current Power Rankings
College D-III Men's Power Rankings:
| 1 | Middlebury |
| 2 | Carleton CHOP |
| 3 | Elon |
| 4 | Lewis & Clark |
| 5 | Ave Maria |
| 6 | Oklahoma Christian |
| 7 | Whitman |
| 8 | St. Olaf |
| 9 | Franciscan |
| 10 | Claremont |
| 11 | Williams |
| 12 | Bowdoin |
| 13 | Richmond |
| 14 | Wesleyan |
| 15 | Colorado College |
| 16 | Rochester |
| 17 | Macalester |
| 18 | UNC Asheville |
| 19 | Puget Sound |
| 20 | Davidson |
| 21 | Berry |
| 22 | Brandeis |
| 23 | Hillsdale |
| 24 | Lipscomb |
| 25 | Missouri S&T |
A three team round robin to decide a Nationals bid has never sat well with me. ↩
