College Update 2026: Moving Right Along

Weather again impacted tournaments along the East Coast, and more teams made their season debuts.

February 23, 2026 by Alex Rubin in Preview, Recap

Ultiworld’s coverage of the 2026 college 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.

Throughout the spring season, we’ll publishing a bite-sized weekly recap of the action across the college division. This will serve as a supplement to our standard tournament reporting and offer a high-level look at the latest happenings and the biggest stories of the week.

Want your tournament listed? Submit a recap of what happened right here.

 

D-I Women’s

Around the Division

• Florida State Lady Seminoles took down top seeded Central Florida Sirens 8-7 to win Mardi Gras XXXVIII. Both teams took a loss in pool play but rebounded to make the final.
• James Madison Bitchmonkeys¹ won Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1 with a powerful 13-3 victory in the final over Boston University Uprising. JMU posted a +57 score differential through six games while fielding just 12 players.
• Tennessee Big Orange Screw won their home tournament, The Only Tenn I See Memorial Tournament, for the fourth year in a row with a win over Emory Luna in the final.
• It was a smaller Dust Bowl than usual, with just three teams playing a round robin over the course of two days. With no teams undefeated, it is hard to say that anyone “won” the tournament, though surely Missouri Terror Missou, Arkansas SoCo, and Texas-Dallas Whiplash are happy to get their games in.

Looking Ahead

#8 North Carolina Pleiades, #9 Pennsylvania Venus, #18 Notre Dame Echo, #19 Michigan Flywheel, and Georgia Athena will be among 28 teams competing at Commonwealth Cup Weekend 2.

Regional events include:

• Kentucky Hucky
• Snow Melt
• Tropical Toss Up
• PLU BBQ
• Midwest Throwdown
• Cherry Blossom Classic
• Bring the Huckus (rescheduled from last week)
• March UMadness.

 

D-I Men’s

Hodags Earn Easterns

#22 Wisconsin Hodags swept their way through Easterns Qualifier to earn a bid to the prestigious Easterns tournament at the end of March. Wisconsin went 7-0, with their closest win a three-goal victory over Ottawa Geegees in the final.

An ultimate blueblood, Wisconsin has taken a step back in the post-COVID era from their championship contending years, but is clearly on the upswing this season. Strong performances first at Florida Warm Up and this past weekend indicate a team hunting for a second bid for the North Central Region. After missing last season’s edition of the tournament, Wisconsin will be back among the largely Nationals-qualifying field at Easterns after missing last year.

BatCH Take the Commonwealth Cup

This recap was submitted by Neal Parekh from UNC BatCH 

After going 1-5 at Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1, UNC BatCH improved to a 6-1 record in 2026 and won the whole thing. UNC’s B team went 3-1 in pool play to make the bracket, upsetting Miami Vice and Akron GoonSquad along the way.

BatCH beat Miami 13-9 and notched seven total breaks, with spectacular play from Matthew Bain (3G/2B) and Dylan Edwards, who had two skying bookends. Neal Parekh added four assists from the D-line. Against Akron, O-liners Bryce Jensen dished five assists and Dax Welborn tallied four goals to put the GoonSquad away by a 13-6 final scoreline.

BatCH’s sole pool play loss came on universe to Ohio University Trout, 13-12 with great games from Oliver Spiller (3A/2G) and Parker Hanson (3A/2G/2B). Neal Parekh also helped convert two of UNC B’s three breaks off full-field flick hucks. Caleb Promislow’s two assists and relentless motor on D-line and Michael Hopfinger’s ability to reel in hucks contributed to the close loss.

In the bracket BatCH were never broken as they soundly beat Wake Forest 13-5 in a semis play-in game to start Sunday. Matthew Bain hunted three blocks but Centurion Tzendzalian stole the show with a crazy layout denial. A dogfight in semis awaited with Pitt B after Harvard dropped out. BatCH led 7-6 at half before going on a 6-2 run in the second to break the game open. Bryce Jensen (3A/2G) and Parker Hanson (4G/1A) stuffed the stat sheet, but Owen Evans had one of the plays of the tournament with this full-field layout grab for a break to start the second half run.

https://streamable.com/6igj2b

On the opposite side of the bracket, D-III’s Cedarville Swarm beat Ohio on universe to advance to the final against BatCH. In the championship, UNC B opened things up with a 7-3 run, tallying five breaks in strong winds. Brian Chen and Tzendzalian combined for four point-blank blocks in the cup. The O-line did their part, with Parker Hanson and Nate Scofield getting three blocks each. D-liner Promislow had three assists, all for breaks.

After Cedarville clawed back to make it 10-7, BatCH handler Gavin Blurr and coaches Mitchell O’Connor and Akshay Mankad switched to a huck-and-play-defense scheme downwind, with Parekh hitting Hanson on a 60 yard first throw to make it 11-7. Hanson got a calla-hold to make it 12-8, and BatCH hucked again against the four-man cup with a full field shot from Parekh to Dax Welborn to put the game away, 13-9.

https://streamable.com/wirkjl

Standout BatCH Contributors:

• D-line:
  • Dylan Edwards, Matthew Bain, and Centurion Tzendzalian combined for 19 blocks
  • Neal Parekh had 16 total scores, including 14 for breaks, notching assists off long flick hucks
  • Daniel Rabinovich had nine total scores quarterbacking the D-line
  • Caleb Promislow had a relentless motor, playing 76 points on the weekend, with the next highest being Neal Parekh at 67
• O-line:
  • Parker Hanson had 15 goals and nine assists
  • Freshman Oliver Spiller had 17 total scores and showed off a strong backhand huck
  • Freshman Bryce Jensen and Dax Welborn each had 18 total scores, with Welborn mossing opponents left and right
  • Handlers Nate Scofield, Oliver Spiller, and Gavin Blurr did a great job splitting opposing zones in 15 mph winds on Sunday

Around the Division

• Tennessee-Chattanooga Swamp Donkeys won a windy edition of Mardi Gras XXXVIII with a 10-9 upset victory over Emory Juice in the tournament final.
• Oregon State B made the final of PLU Men’s BBQ but lost to D-III Portland UPrise.
• Carleton Karls (the third team at Carleton College other than CUT and CHOP) won the round robin Minnesota Dome with a 4-0 record.
• Northern Iowa AmmUNItion won Dust Bowl with a 13-9 victory in the final over Kansas State Wizards. Texas-Dallas Woof finished third and beat Kansas State during pool play, but could not repeat the feat during their semifinal.
• SUNY-Buffalo Green Eggs and Ham² won Huckin in the Hills XII. Their closest matchup was a three point win over Michigan B in the tournament semifinal.

Looking Ahead

The headline event this weekend is Smoky Mountain Invite. Ultiworld will have live video coverage and written reporting following each day of the event, which includes #1 Carleton CUT, #2 Oregon Ego, #3 Massachusetts Zoodisc, #4 Colorado Mamabird, #5 North Carolina Darkside, #6 California-Santa Cruz Slugs, #9 Vermont Chill, #10 Texas TUFF, #13 Pittsburgh En Sabah Nur, #14 Michigan MagnUM, #15 Brown Brownian Motion, #19 North Carolina-Wilmington Seamen, and #20 Penn State Spank.

Regional events include:

• Bring the Huckus
• Kentucky Hucky
• Snow Melt
• Oak Creek Challenge
• Midwest Throwdown
• The DUDE
• Palouse Open
• Underground Invite
• Big D in Little D
• UMass Invite
• FishBowl
• Monument Melee

 

D-III Women’s

Around the Division

• A few D-III teams competed at Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1. Cedarville Queen Bee made the semifinal and finished 3rd in the nine-team tournament. Franciscan FIRE went winless against D-I competition.
• #20 Union Jillz went undefeated in pool play and made the semifinal at the D-I  The Only Tenn I See Memorial Tournament. They lost to Emory in the semifinal but beat Indiana in consolation to take 3rd place.
• Completing the trifecta, #21 Trinity Altitude made the Mardi Gras XXXVIII semifinal after going 3-0 in pool play, including a 4-3 win over Central Florida Sirens. Altitude played Florida State to universe in the semi, but ultimately fell to 4th place.

Looking Ahead

• Bring the Huckus was rescheduled for this week. It has a smaller team list than last week’s, but is still D-III heavy with the #8 Rochester EZ Women. #14 Williams Nova, Ithaca Kweezy, Colby Center for Disc Control, and Skidmore Thoroughbears.
• Cherry Blossom Classic could establish an early Ohio Valley pecking order with #3 Haverford/Bryn Mawr Sneetches, #11 Kenyon Blu-Ray, Lehigh Gravity, Dickinson Dumptrucks, and Messiah Falcons among the field, in addition to the Atlantic Coast’s #23 Richmond Redhots.
• #22 Oberlin Preying Manti are making their season debut at Commonwealth Cup Weekend 2.
• Midwest Throwdown will see Northwest powerhouses #9 Macalester Pursesnatchers and #10 St. Olaf Vortex take the field for the first time alongside #4 Davenport Panthers and #5 Carleton Eclipse.
• #13 Colorado College Zenith will compete at their hometown tournament Snow Melt.
• The PLU BBQ has historically fielded a slate of Northwest teams, including #18 Puget Sound Clearcut.

 

D-III Men’s

Franciscan Wins River City Showdown

#8 Franciscan FATAL swept through River City Showdown, taking down host #14 Richmond Spidermomkeys 11-7 in the final. Their closest win was a two-goal quarterfinal win over Messiah Falcons.³

#15 Wesleyan Nietzsch Factor and #16 Rochester Piggies were unfortunately some of several teams that needed to leave the tournament early. With stormy weather across the East Coast, getting home safely was understandably more of a priority than playing a few more frisbee games. Wesleyan’s pool play loss to #22 Oberlin Flying Horsecows hinted at the potential for exciting bracket, where anyone could have beaten the second-seeded team.

#19 North Carolina-Asheville Mudpuppy impressed with a strong showing and made the semifinal after an undefeated pool play. #18 Berry Bucks were the other semifinalist, hanging tight in a universe point loss to a rested Richmond, who did not have to play a quarterfinal game after Rochester bowed out. Filling in for Navy who could not travel due to the partial government shutdown, William & Mary B Seahorse unfortunately went winless.

Stay tuned for a fuller recap later this week from Ultiworld’s Hunter Lang.

Around the Division

• #3 Elon Big Fat Bomb finished 9th at Easterns Qualifier against good D-I competition. They went 2-2 in pool play and swept through the 9th place bracket with wins over East Carolina, Syracuse, and Cincinnati.
• Rice Cloud 9 won just two games at Mardi Gras XXXVIII, finishing 15th. Trinity Turbulence won three games, including a 9-8 victory over Rice, to finish 14th.
• Cedarville Swarm made the final at Commonwealth Cup Weekend 1, but lost to D-I North Carolina B BatCH. Initially, Cedarville did not perform well enough during pool play to make the bracket, but the incoming snow storm in the Northeast invited a few other teams to leave the tournament after Saturday’s games to make it back safely before the storm hit. Their absence gave Cedarville an opportunity, and they ran with it all the way to the tournament final. Wake Forest Well Oiled Machine, Baby⁴ finished 6th after a 2-4 weekend, though they did beat Cedarville head-to-head during pool play.
• Portland UPrise dominated PLU Men’s BBQ, taking down D-I Oregon State B in the final 15-12.
• Bethel Ultimate were the best non-C team at Minnesota Dome, beating Wisconsin-Whitewater Sub*Par by one to finish 2-2 at the round robin.
• Hardin Apocalypse and John Brown Ironfist met in consolation at Dust Bowl, with Apocalypse scoring the 12-7 win to avoid going winless on the weekend.
• Grove City Doomsday were the sole D-III team in attendance at Huckin in the Hills, but went winless in pool play and did not compete Sunday.

Looking Ahead

• Bring the Huckus is rescheduled for this week and includes Swarthmore Earthworms, Colby Dazzlin’ Asses, Skidmore Wombats, Ithaca Nawshus, Vassar Swinging Monks, Rowan Ruf Riders, and Stevens Tech Ultimate.
• Kenyon SERF will be playing at the Oak Creek Challenge.
• Underground Invite’s team list includes the Lipscomb Bisons.
• Harding Apocalypse will be in the field for Big D in Little D.
• #13 Colorado College Wasabi and #17 Colorado School of Mines head the field at the local Snow Melt.
• Expect a strong North Central D-III field at Midwest Throwdown.
• UMass Invite provides opportunities for New England regional battles.

 

---

1. Yes, that is their real name ↩

2. Yet another incredible team name ↩

3. Coached by UFA Philadelphia Phoenix head coach Adam Callaghan ↩

4. I will use every excuse I can find to type out this team’s name ↩