Who are the best players in the Great Lakes region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Jesus Osorio of Valparaiso “Deus Vult” is in his 11th year of playing ultimate (7 years in Venezuela and 4 in the U.S.) has helped lead his team to tournament wins at Music City Tune Up, Illinois Invite, and a Conference championship over the #2 ranked Indiana Wesleyan, At the time a #1 ranked Franciscan team at DIII Midwest Invite, and at the time a #3 ranked Colorado College team to win Illinois Invite and secure a 3rd bid for the Great Lakes Region.
A consistent player with great decision making. Always making the right play if not the highlight play.
Junior John “Jack” Verhayden brings quickness and craftiness. Standing only at 5’8, 130 pounds What he lacks in size, he makes up for in spirit, tenacity, and intensity. Along with great breaks, and hucks he sheds zones with consistent scoobers and hammers upwind or downwind.
These two players captain the Valparaiso team with great intelligence. Without a coach, they are in charge of making in game adjustments, call lines, and do this all while playing at a high level.
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Wheaton “Mastodon” team captains Luke Rynbrandt and Martin Dekker.
Seniors Luker and Marty, who have been playing ultimate together since high school, demonstrate talent, athelticism, and excellent decision-making as the two central handlers on the Wheaton team. Along with shouldering much of the responsibility of a self-coached, self-organized, and self-funded team, they have shown passion and drive for the game that has inspired the generations behind them and led Wheaton to our best performance in program history, ending the regular season ranked #7 in the nation.
On offense, they both consistently have shown ridiculously skilled and smart throws, regardless of the conditions (including, in the words of one Ultiworld commenter “40-50 yard upwind hucks on point”). On defense, both represent smart, safe, and consistent individual performance, as well as an excellent sense of field awareness and team coordination.
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Tyler Light is also great. Smooth lefty playing style and quick first step.
IWU Travis Carpenter. Highlight plays and tons of coverage but his skill set is not used effectively on IWU where he sits back and makes pinpoint throws. Incredible transformation by his team making everyone better.
Max Carpenter from Valparaiso. He’s an absolute monster down field, consistently putting opponents on a poster when the disc is in the air. He is one of the best down field cutters in the nation and the match up down field between him and Travis Carpenter at Conference was something to marvel at. Over the past few years he’s developed some incredible hucks and great break throws and has the ability to not only sky the other teams best player down field, but torch a zone as a handler as well. He’s incredibly talented and athletically gifted and these qualities coupled with his commitment, effort and sportsmanship make him a prime candidate for all-region.
Can vouch for that^. He’s facilitated a remarkable transformation in that teams since the fall when it was all him and now he’s got a team of fully capable players and he’s just another talented cog in IWU’s machine. Tons of respect for Travis and what he’s done there
Andrew Reay from Wheaton for All-Freshman. Solid throws, ridiculous athleticism, and solid understanding of game dynamics. Legit probably has more layout incut DS than our whole team combined.
Being top 10 teams in the country, and IWU at #2, I would hope most candidates will come from IWU, Wheaton and valpo.
IWU:
Luke Mendel- jersey #1. Wears a white headband and scores a lot of goals and spikes all the time. Luke is one of the best deep threats in the region and like is top 3 in goals scored. He also is insanely in shape and most matchups struggle to breathe after guarding him. He also plays monster and is unbelievably dominate when teams attempt to Huck against the zone. No one stops him in the air. Also has great throws, pivots. Further evidence of ability is that he is on the Indy AlleyCats.
Matt Wiegmann: handler that kind of looks like me (Travis)at a glance. Wide range of throws. Incredible decision making. One of the purest throwers in the region.
Clint Carson: larger dude that handles with Me on O line. Ability to create Ds is incredible on huge layouts. Also been playing 10 years so he uses his savvy moves and experience to create separation on offense and keep things flowing.
Nik “swerve” Evans: most pure cutter in the region if I had to pick. First step, quickness and top speed. All combined to make him a matchup nightmare. He gets any in-cut he wants. He also has huge Hucks and nice break throws.
Valpo:
Zues: very talented thrower, quick, in shape, and is a clear leader. Top 3 handlers in the region
Jack: same as above^
#22: don’t know this dudes name… But he is maybe the most dominate deep offensive cutter in the region. No one can seem to stop him and he attacks the disc with such impressive aggression. He is also stupid fast.
Considerations: Tyler light, will hannei
Wheaton:
They had two players that stood out to me. I’m sorry I forget their names. One is a captain and wears an orange hat a lot. Handler. He got a footblock, into a layout Callahan my sophomore year. One of the better defenders of the region. He also just leads that team with impressive poise. Solid player all around.
The other one was a super tall dude that was a cutter. Great decisions, fast, times his cuts nicely, and is pretty dominate in the air. Good bids too.
Knox:
Harper gravy. Perhaps the best thrower in the region. Good enough to make an elite club team (sub zero) which is pretty dang impressive and rare in D3 ultimate. All around top 3 player in the region.
Olivet:
Again… Forget the name… Maybe nick coon? Something like that. He is their apex handler. Great throws, great leader, and great defense. Just doesn’t have the greatest team around him to work with since they lost a lot of players the last year or two.
The Wheaton guy with the orange hat is Luke Rynbrandt. The cutter is probably Jonah Karls (red hat) or Laramie Aspegren (grey hat).
Harper’s last name is Garvey (I think).
The Olivet player is Nick Schoon.
Thomas Williams of North Park has been their go to handler for the past 4 years (he’s in his fifth year of eligibility) and can throw with the best of them. North park consistently goes to him for clutch throws/plays and he leads the team in assists. He has been leading the core offensive handler set for North Park this year and unfortunately the young team he’s leading hasn’t made him look as good as deserved. Dude can play, and that needs to be recognized.