The winners and the results from this year's D-III contests.
June 3, 2026 by Keith Raynor in Fantasy
With the 2026 USA Ultimate Division-III College Championships in the book, the Pick ‘Em Challenge (Charlie doesn’t want the smoke) and #TheGame are all wrapped up. We picked the winners, guessed the props, and tried to find the upsets and which favorites to target. Hopefully, following along was fun. We keep trying to improve the mechanics to make it as fun as possible!
#TheGame
The Winners
By a single point, the winner is Chris S with 335 points. Chris’ lineup doubled up Middlebury in the Favorites and Bonus categories, while picking Whitman and Williams as Contenders and Colorado Mineas the Underdog. Along with hitting two bonus questions, including the 11 pter, Chris narrowly edged second place.
Chris S wins a free month of All-Access subscription.
With 334 points, Ben M took second place. Ben had the same lineup as Chris, save replacing Mines with Berry, and picking up 10 extra points for the smart call. But Ben didn’t get the 11 point challenge question, so that left their entry one point short.
In third place, Josh K posted 314, again with the double Middlebury pick, as well as Whitman and Claremont as Contenders. In the final slot, Josh went with Rochester, but missed three of the four challenge questions. Otherwise, Josh could have gotten close to the top.
Ben M and Josh K each win a free month of Standard subscription.
Also, my sincere apologies to the two entrants that picked Oberlin M for the brief time that they were an option…
Selection Stats
Top 5 Bonus Teams
- Haverford/Bryn Mawr W [Favorites] (15.2%)
- Claremont M [Contender] (12.1%)
- Middlebury M [Favorite](10.1%)
- Middlebury W [Favorite] (6.1%)
- St. Olaf M [Contender] | Williams M. [Contender] (5.1%)
The big picture here is abut half of our entrants were tempted to go for big bonus points and half wanted to get another top seeded title contender. HBM, the women’s division favorites, were the fourth most selected team and second in the women’s division, and led the bonus selections. Only 16% of the entries chose the Underdog bonus team, with Lewis & Clark W slightly edging the others.
Both Haverford/Bryn Mawr and Claremont M earned 45 points a piece, which is obviously more painful when talking about a top seed. Whitman, the highest scoring bonus team possible with 112.5 points, the only team to outscore the championships, were the most-selected women’s division club but only had 4% bonus selection rate.
Top 3 Favorites Teams
- Middlebury M (65.7%)
- Haverford/Bryn Mawr W (15.2%)
- Davenport W (7.1%)
Notice a conspicuous absence? Yeah, Middlebury W were only selected by 1% of entries as finalists (though they were 6.1% of bonus picks). The matchup with the no.5 and no.9 perhaps scared everyone off eventual champions. But Middlebury M unsurprisingly heavily tops the board, a highly predictable outcome given how big a favorites the Pranksters were. They really backed it up with a dominating showing that also served to depress the selection rates of the other top seeds in the men’s division.
Top 3 Contender Teams
- Claremont M (44.4%)
- Whitman W (33.3%)
- Macalester W (21.2%)
Initially, I had feared the no.6 and maybe no.7 seeds would just dominate the contender picks, but that was not the case. It is true that the the bottom end of this tier did merit very few picks, but they did get some. The field correctly called for Whitman W ascendance (although they should have gone for the bonus!), as their 75 points was the best in class. But Claremont delivered 30 points, which tied for third (behind Williams M) with a handful of other options.
Top 3 Underdog Teams
- Colorado Mines M (27.3%)
- Lewis & Clark W (22.2%)
- Colorado College W (15.2%)
This category was well spread out, with Mines standing at the top position. Perhaps with news that Macalester, the team seeded above them in their pool, was missing their seniors made Mines an even more enticing pick. The same logic might have applied to Rochester M, the fourth most popular underdog, re: Franciscan’s captains’ suspensions.
Meanwhile it was Berry M who were the only team to earn two wins, the highest scoring underdog.
The Perfect Lineup
Whitman W [Bonus] – 112.5 Pts
Middlebury W or Middlebury M – 100 Pts
St. Olaf M – 40 Pts
Berry M – 20 Pts
Plus any of: Rice W, Macalester W, Williams M, Claremont M – 30 Pts
Good for 302.5 points before challenge questions.
The Challenge Questions
A lot of bonus points on the board this time. Nice job, team!
Which regions will have the most total teams in quarterfinals, across both divisions? (11 Pts) (11 Pts)
Answer: North Central OR The Field (AC, GL, SE, SW)
It was a close race, but these two groups each earned four spots in quarterfinals. Macalester W working their way in (although their prequarter opponent was St. Olaf, so either way it was NC) and Berry M surprising opened the door for these two. The Field was tied as the least popular choice of the five (with 9.2%), while North Central was second behind New England.
What will be the result of the pool play game between Claremont M and Colorado Mines M? (9 pts)
Answer: Claremont wins by 3 or more goals
About 70% of entries corrected predicted this, so perhaps my line wasn’t good enough. On the hand, it was 7-7, and 9-9 before Claremont closed strong to win 15-12.
What will be the result of the pool play game between Middlebury W and Wesleyan W? (9 pts)
Answer: Middlebury wins by 2 or more goals
After Wesleyan opened with a run, Middlebury took control and never relinquished it, though they never completely shook Wesleyan off in the 15-12 win. This was the most popular choice at about 37% but things were pretty well divided otherwise.
How many of the eight pool winners will win their quarterfinals? (9 pts)
Answer: 5 or fewer
Six was a massive favorite here, with 62% of the votes. Shockingly, not a single person predicted every pool winner would advance, expecting at least one quarters upset. Turns out upsets were in style, with Oklahoma Christian, Wesleyan, and Haverford/Bryn Mawr all winning back to back to bracket games to make semis.
Pick ‘Em Challenge
Women’s Division
There was a clear “big five” going into this year, with Middlebury, Haverford/Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Davenport, and Wesleyan getting all but one (shout out Colorado College) of the champion picks and all garnering 92% or more selection rates for the quarterfinals before a big drop off.
Outside of that group was runners-up, Whitman, whose conquering of Pool B and Haverford/Bryn Mawr really threw off the bracket math. That mean two of the big five were going to get knocked out early., with Davenport and Carleton the ones who ended up paying that price. Whitman was considered a big underdog to reach the semis (16.4%) or the final (3.4%).
The Most Popular Picks
- Quarterfinals
- #4 Middlebury (98.3%)
- #2 Haverford/Bryn Mawr (97.4%)
- #3 Carleton (97.4%)
- #1 Davenport (95.7%)
- #5 Wesleyan (92.2%)
- #7 Whitman (75%)
- #8 Macalester (52.6%)
- #9 St. Olaf (52.6%)
- Semifinals
- #2 Haverford/Bryn Mawr (87.1%)
- #4 Middlebury (81%)
- #1 Davenport (69%)
- #3 Carleton (62.1%)
- Final
- #2 Haverford/Bryn Mawr (68.1%)
- #4 Middlebury (44.8%)
- Champion
- #2 Haverford/Bryn Mawr (44.8)
Men’s Division
Much like 2025 favorites, Davenport, Middlebury’s numbers towered over the field’s as entrants went deeper into the bracket. But unlike last year, the favorite delivered. Look at the final picks: Middlebury approaching 90% selection, with L&C second with just over one-third of entries picking them. Carleton and Lewis & Clark were mostly split the other finalist spot, though almost every team was picked at least once (sorry Berry and Rochester).
Speaking of Berry, they were one of the tournament’s big surprises, and the only team to break side into quarterfinals. Only 4.3% of entries saw that one coming, and with things mostly to expectation, that was one of the only places to pick up points.
The Most Popular Picks
- Quarterfinals
- #1 Middlebury (99.1%)
- #3 Lewis & Clark (98.3%)
- #2 Carleton (95.7%)
- #4 Oklahoma Christian (88.8%)
- #5 Elon (86.2%)
- #8 Claremont (75%)
- #6 St. Olaf (53.4%)
- #7 Williams (59.5%)
- Semifinals
- #1 Middlebury (97.4%)
- #3 Lewis & Clark (75.9%)
- #2 Carleton (60.3%)
- #4 Oklahoma Christian (42.2%)
- Final
- #1 Middlebury (87.1%)
- #3 Lewis & Clark (36.2%)
- Champion
- #1 Middlebury (66.4%)
Fantasy
There was a slight decline in fantasy points, with 1.97 average per entry. A lot of those points were earned in the assist categories, especially the women’s division, where about 40% of entries selected either Ella Widmyer or Claire Lee to lead the division in assists and both making the top three. Scout Noble and Milo Brown were the next most popular selections, and both made the top 10, at #4 and #8, respectively. Shout out to the one person who picked Ria Stevens, who finished #2 in the category. In the men’s division, Sammy Roberts was the most popular choice (14.4%) and delivered a top three performance.
Goal-scoring proved much harder to predict, with zero of the five most popular women’s division picks (both Milo and Maggie Brown, Erica Collin, Rufus Helmreich, and Claire Willett) making the top 10. Jacques Paradis (11.7%) was the only popular men’s division pick to hit, though he did deliver a top three showing.
The Winners
Rising above the crowd with 32 total points was Madeline Kallin. Picking Middlebury to win both divisions, Madeline got three of four finalists, and five of eight semifinalists, while scoring five fantasy points. Madeline wins a free month of All-Access subscription.
Mgraves8 took second place with 31 points. Mgraves8 was perfect in the women’s division until the finals, where they missed on both picks, taking Davenport and Haverford/Bryn Mawr. Ouch. 6 fantasy points helped, though. Mgraves8 wins a free month of Standard subscription.
Third place was a three-way tie, and by random draw, Adam Ho won the prize. Adam wins a free month of Standard subscription.
Feedback Welcome!
Did you play? Did you not play? Why or why not? What rules would be fun to play with? What tweaks can be made?
Big changes this year for #TheGame and I’m not exactly sure to make of these choices in D-III. Mostly want to see more to figure it out. Pick ‘Em is straightforward by design, though.
We want the Pick ‘Em Challenge and #TheGame to be fun and have different strategies be viable without being too complicated for lots of people to enter. You can contact me by emailing [email protected].
