Who are the best players in the North Central region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
FOTY 2016:
Saul Wildavsky - Carleton GOP
this is all I need to say: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sA279cUsl8
I would like to nominate Brendan McCann on Michigan Tech DiscoTech for All-Region. He is DiscoTech’s captain and it shows in the way he leads, on and off the field. He also plays for Spoiler, a regionally competitive club team from Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is stud handler, dominates as a cutter, and is an undeniably amazing defender. Brendan being in the game can mean the difference between the team losing and winning. He throws dimes to anywhere on the field, routinely beats his defender to where ever he needs to go, and shuts down cuts and throws with his impenetrable mark. It does not matter where he is on the field, Brendan consistently excels. He works very hard and always strives to be his best, putting many hours of work during and outside of practice. In his one year of being captain of the team, he lead DiscoTech to their first ever regional appearance and always strives for more. Brendan McCann deserves to win All-Region.
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Mark Lewis and Caleb Leedy are both phenomenal players (and captains!) for Grinnell.
Mark has a killer flick huck, but is also fast and loves to strike deep from the handler set making him a dangerous double threat that opponents must keep an eye on at all times. It does wonders for an offense to be constantly threatening to score, and simply putting Mark on the field means his offense is constantly threatening to score. He also plays team-first ultimate all the time. You won’t see him taking low percentage shots for personal glory, and he is one of the best players I’ve ever seen at taking the open pass and getting out of the play when his turn is up, allowing the offense as a whole to be more effective.
Caleb came to Grinnell as a transfer student and was very quickly highlighted by being the exact opposite of a traditional Grinnell ultimate player in the best way possible. By that I mean he was, and is, an awesome shut-down defender. Giving 100% is a given for Caleb. So is making life difficult for opposing offenses. On a team that once ran a junk zone for an entire year almost solely because we were too lazy to play good man defense Caleb is a necessary breath of fresh air. His captaincy has seen a vastly improved focus on defense that will quite possibly be the biggest lasting impact of any captain our program has ever had. Despite this he is the most humble player I have ever met as well as one of the nicest people I know (funny how those often go hand in hand). His impact on the team culture has been positive to an extent that I simply cannot properly express in writing. You might have missed him because he is quiet and isn’t the one throwing 70 yard flick hucks, but make no mistake Caleb is a force to be reckoned with.
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I’d like to show my bias here and hype a few Saint John’s guys.
Charlie Schuweiler (So)-The NC DIII Player of the Year. Typically when people say stuff like “No question” or anything that indicates there shouldn’t be a debate I cringe, but there truly shouldn’t be a debate here. Charlie dominates in every aspect of the game.
Tyler Meyer (So)- Supremely athletic cutter. More often than not the guy catching Charlie’s hucks.
Edward Mallak (Sr)- Incredibly gangly handler, has really improved this season. Smart defender.
Sam “Tosh” Eherenman (Sr)- Workhorse cutter, plays great defense.
A couple others from some of the teams I watched this past weekend:
Remy Eisendrath (Macalester)- Calm, efficient cutting. Lockdown defender. A huge reason why Macalester is having their most successful season in recent memory.
Max Longchamp (GOP)- Seemed to be an offensive focal point for them. There are a ton of deserving GOP guys, but it’s hard to differentiate them. Anybody know the team better than I do that could make some recommendations?
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Co-sign on Schuweiler. Any list without him on it is incorrect. I’m not familiar with the rest, but I definitely did a double-take seeing Macalester on the region qualifier list. Is this Eisendrath’s senior year? Where did he come from?
I believe he’s a junior. But it’s certainly not just him; Macalester has really improved their depth, which is probably the biggest reason behind their regionals qualification.
Thanks for the mention, Charlie-Alec
I nominate Alec McFarlane (Saint John’s) for best vine account in all of D 3 ultimate
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Came here to post some love for the West Plains Section.
Full Disclosure: I coach Drake so there is a little bit of bias.
Drake players I’d nominate for All-Region:
Alex Stumphauzer(#54) - Stump has played a gigantic role for DUC all season but I really saw his play climb to another level at Conferences. Three of Drake’s best players went down with injuries and the games against Luther-B and Grinnell required him to dominate from the handler position in order for the team to have success. I saw Stump command the offense, getting every other throw and dropping some jaw dropping dimes in to the wind and some smooth breaks with the wind. Though DUC didn’t win either of those games I would argue that Stump was the best player on the field whenever he was on. I’m really looking forward to his play at Regionals.
Mitchell McCarthy(#10) - Mitchell is a lefty handler for DUC. He is impossible to stop from breaking the mark. He is a layout D machine. In fact, the injury that took him out of conferences was a lay out bid to stop an upwind huck against Cornell. He cleans up any 50/50 disc and is a great deep threat when given the opportunity. He will likely be injured for Regionals(had surgery on his throwing hand last week) but anyone who played Drake this year while he was on the field knows of his dominance.
Huynh Vo(#49) - Speed speed speed. When Huynh is on the field, there is a pretty good chance he is the fastest person out there. I’ve seen few other players keep up with him when he goes deep. On offense he is a nightmare to match up against. He outworks players on unders and at Conferences was one of the biggest reasons Drake was still in games coming down with big throws and getting any under he wanted. I really saw Huynh take his play to another level at Conferences and am excited for his play at Regionals.
I’d also like to give a shout out to two players who had season ending injuries prior to the series. Eric Olsen(Collar bone) and Neal Patel(ACL). These two players would have drastically changed DUC’s results in the series and it was disappointing to not see the team at full strength. Thanks for everything you’ve done for the Drake Ultimate program. It was great coaching both of you.
Drake All-Freshman nominees:
Carter Genrick - Great thrower and hustle player. Makes up for some of his short comings(Field sense both throwing and cutting) by outworking other players.
Matt Kraus - Phenomenal athlete. Will likely be one of the best Drake players of all time in coming years.
Other West Plains Players:
Grinnell
Mark Lewis - Seemed like the most polished player on the field for Grinnell. Always attacked the correct space and played whatever role he needed to make their offense/defense flow.
Grinnell probably has a few other stand outs but they play pretty good team ball. I’ll report back after some more watching at Regionals.
Cornell
(#33) - Had a great tournament. Making athletic plays down field. Did work with the disc in his hands as well as being a receiver down field. Clearly their best player and reason for a lot of their success at Conferences. Would fit in well on any team.
Luther Pound
Jesse(#9?) - Fast player, good down field receiver and someone you can trust with the disc in his hand. Did a lot to make the offense move and snagged some good upwind sky balls.
Don’t know his number/name but Pound also had a lefty handler who made some really great break throws and hucks upwind. Was a big factor in them scoring multiple up wind points against DUC. Really spirited player too. I remember him calmly discussing a few fouls and congratulating other players on nice plays. Hopefully someone on here knows who I’m talking about and can provide a name.
As mentioned above, I plan on giving a follow up after seeing some more players from the North Central compete this weekend. Hope everyone has a great Regionals! We’re excited have you all come down and enjoy Des Moines!
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Full discloser: I am an elephant.
Grinnell:
Caleb Leedy absolutely ran the show for Grinnell. He consistently would take the hardest matchup on D, earn a turn, then go on to get the disc every-other from the cutter set until unleashing a huck. He was a crucial part of their D-line’s success this season.
Mark Lewis was a consistent threat for Grinnell’s o-line. He was able to dominate his matchup, whether he was in a cutter or handler position. Both his throws and ability to find the disc anywhere on the field caused him to be a major issue for any defense .
Drake:
Alex Stumphauzer was an all around wonderful player for Drake. He was an integral piece of all of their offensive movement. He has a wonderful command of his throws, and his quickness and give go moves ensure that he is always able to get his hands on the disc.
St. Olaf:
Zerkers definitely had a tougher season this year. They came to regionals with an incredibly young roster, and were missing several key players. One standout was Evan Weselmann. He consistently supplied cheeky lefty give-goes, and made their offense tick.
GOP:
It’s always hard to pick out a standout for GOP. Their success is linked to having a deep roster where everyone plays a major role to the team, whether or not they’re currently playing.
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I am the captain of Michigan Tech, I talked with a lot of you if you played us. Sorry if I don’t remember all the names.
POTY: Charlie Schuweiler (St. John’s). I had the pleasure of guarding him in a man-zone all game. That guy is amazing. He was s0 fast, and could throw just about anything wherever and whenever he wanted, even in the rain and wind. Also, I’d like to point out that the throw he won the game against us on was an upside down backhand. Definitely the best player I have had to guard in a long time. Also, he was charismatic and carried a quiet confidence, a perfect attitude for the sport.
FOTY: I wasn’t quite sure who was a freshman on the teams we played. I think Luther Pound had a guy with an American flag bandanna on that was a freshman (pretty sure) and very good. However, a little bias here. Griffin Bergers still stepped up as the main handler for our team as a freshman. I don’t think he had a contested break throw the whole tournament. Most teams didn’t know he was a freshman because of his cool composure and the throws most freshman don’t have. Keep the little schools in mind during consideration because often it is only a few players carrying the whole team, while a big school player may be just a cog in the machine.
Other All Region Shouts: I played a lot of good people this weekend but here are a few that come to mind:
St. John’s: Number 18 I think: You had some huuuuge bids and were extremely athletic. Definitely deserves to be in this talk.
Drake: Stump: we guarded each other the whole game, and I loved the match up. Very quick and athletic, with some nice puts. Drake’s offense was very dependent on the play of him, and he played well.
Luther: The two tall guys were both very good. Also, one of the funniest teams I have ever played. Keep up the spirit guys, that was awesome.
Grinnell: had a few real good players. Particularly their captains. Forgot names, I’m sorry, but you guys were fun and played good music.
I am sure there were a slew of other good players that could be talked about here, but these are the ones I remember saying DAAMN on the sidelines about.
I’d just like to add how impressed I am at the spirit of all of the teams. There were very few ticky-tac fouls and everyone was still playing the game how it is meant to be played, even though the stakes were high. This was our team’s first regionals (of many to come hopefully) and I was blown away in a positive way.
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Neal Patel from Drake DUC here. I had the pleasure of sticking around to “play” my 5th year out. Unfortunately, torn my ACL and didn’t play beyond February.
But, I just want to throw some love towards some of the players I know from the region.
Drake:
Stump : As our coach said, he literally looked like the best player on the field in every game that we played.
Mitchell McCarthy: A force on defense. He was constantly making big plays all season long. Missing him at regionals hurt our roster. (Broken pinky)
Eric Olsen: A familiar face on DUC. You guys all know what he brings to table. He’s been a great player for DUC the last 4 years. Broke his collarbone right before the series.
Huynh Vo: Consistent threat on offense. You lose sight of him, he will make you pay with his speed. Makes smart throws when he has the disc.
Freshman:
Carter Genrick: Freshman handler who helped us accomplish a lot this season despite multiple injuries to our leadership. Stepped into a role he was not ready for, and was able to play well making plays on both offense and defense.
Matt Kraus: Freshman cutter who earned a starting spot on our o-line. Plays with the intensity of a seasoned vet.
Grinnell:
Mark and Caleb: These guys ran their respective lines. Grinnell lost a lot of their top talent in the last two years. Despite that, they remained a strong team and I believe Mark and Caleb were the reason for that. Both are very calm players that assert their dominance on the field.
Michigan Tech:
The captain: It was fun to watch you play at regionals. It reminded me a lot of DUC in our first year at regionals. Oftentimes the teams that finish at the top of the region have their players dominate the All-region team. He was calm and collected and was always helping his team try to play better. Great leadership qualities. I hope to see you guys around next year as well.
St. Olaf:
Evan: This guy is pretty athletic and was making plays all over the field. On the sidelines he was helping out his team, teaching things they did not grasp, and was positive.
Luther Pound:
Jesse: It was nice to see Jesse be able to cut instead of handle. It was clear the dividends this had for the team and Pound was much more dangerous this year with his presence downfield.
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All the O line handlers for GOP. In the game to go, they had one O line turn the entire game. Not really sure of their names though.
For Saint John’s, Charlie Schuweiler POTY
Other mentions on Saint John’s Edward Mallak, Sam Eherenman (great consistent cutting and defending), Tyler Meyer great athlete and field awareness, Jeff McGurran ability to play through a broken nose
Hey everyone. Thanks once again for coming down and battling through the elements with us for the weekend. I am coming back on here to deliver some more recommendations for the discussion on all region.
GOP:
First off I’d like to give a shout out to GOP. Their offense was beautiful in the finals. Max Longchamp is the only name that I can dig up. Great thrower and leader out there for GOP. A lot of their success can be tied back to his leadership and play. I tried to remember shorts numbers for a few players but went to the GOP’s USAU page only to find that every player was listed as 69. I’ll try to provide some brief descriptions based on what they were wearing.
Purple Hawaiian shirt with Neon Green gloves- Dude out worked everyone he guarded and everyone that guarded him.
Tan Hawaiian with bucket hat- Rock solid cutter. Always seemed to be open and had a few really nice snags deep.
St Johns:
Charlie Schuweiler- Easily the POTY. I believe he had like 5 pin point hammers for goals in the finals and was easily the most talented player on the field. Very polished and great field sense for such a young player. I’m excited for his future ultimate career and for what he will accomplish with St. Johns.
Edward Mallak - Felt like their next best player all weekend. Great handler and athlete.
Tyler Meyer - Great athlete and hard working cutter. I swear in the finals he was the first one down on every D point. Kept their offense going if it stalled and played relentless D all weekend.
Wish our region had two bids this year. You guys had a great team and deserve to be competing at Natties this year.
Wisconsin Platteville:
Zach Ohnesorge - Big athlete. Made a number of big plays for Platteville all weekend.
Grinnell:
Caleb Leedy - I got to watch Caleb play a little more this weekend and he is definitely deserving of an all region nod. Great defensive player. Strong athlete with big throws to add in.
Peter Walker - Great handler who got a ton of touches and Ds in games. Seemed to be a standout for Grinnell.
Michigen Tech:
Griffin Bergers was a treat to watch in that game. Felt like one of the most experienced players on the team. Shocked to learn he was a freshman.
Didn’t get a chance to watch Pound or Macalester this past weekend. Hopefully we get some more discussion coming forward from other sources. Sorry if anyone feels I left out other deserving players. Just voicing my opinion based on what I saw last weekend. I’m sure there are more names to throw out there and hopefully they enter the discussion soon.
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Number 9 would be Peter Walker, I believe. He is in fact quite the stud.
Updated. Thanks for the info.