Who are the best players in the Southwest region? This is an open thread to discuss All-Region nominations, All-Freshman nominations, coaching awards, and more. Stay positive and keep it civil.
Zeke Ivers - SDSU
That is all.
2 Likes
All-Region:
-
Nate Pettyjohn, Cal Poly SLOCORE: an insane athlete with nasty speed, impossible hops, and a slew of throws, Nate has been a huge impact player throughout the season. If his nuts haven’t been on top of your head, you’re one of the lucky few.
-
Cody Kirkland, UCSD Air Squids: Cody is the best thrower in the region. In addition to pin-point hucks and upside-downs, his arsenal includes throws that haven’t even been invented yet. He is also a great sportsman.
Just knowing the San Diego scene, I would say Cody Kirkland and Zeke Ivers are definitely all-region type players.
1 Like
I definitely know socal better than norcal, so I may be missing some guys from Chico, Santa Cruz, Cal, etc.
Definite 1st Teamers:
Ian Sweeney (SLO) - Lanky lefty, great hucks and breaks, super important on SLO’s D-line which can rattle off a string of breaks.
Zeke Ivers (SDSU) - I’ve seen more of him on Growlers than SDSU…definitely one of their main guys. Very athletic handler/mid.
Cody Kirkland (UCSD) - Best thrower in the SW. Changes how you play D.
Nick Hirning (Stanford) - Haven’t seen a ton of him, but too much hype, buzz, and team success to not belong here.
Ethan Falat (SJSU) - Very athletic and improving disc skills. One of Polar Bears/Spiders best defenders
Grant ??? (#13 UCSB) - Pivotal for the Black Tide offense
The rest that should be in discussion for 1st/2nd team:
Elliot Chartock (Stanford)
Mikey Sylvester (USC) - One of the most underrated players in the region. Would be a definite 1st team guy if he played for one of the top teams. Former jr. worlds player from the Seattle area.
Chris Cogswell (SLO)
Nate Pettyjohn (SLO)
Will Turner (UCSB)
Andrew Kohl (ASU)
Michael Bergman (UCLA)
Sac State may have finished at the very bottom of the NorCal Conference and won’t even be attending Regionals, but Trevor Colton should absolutely be in this discussion. After playing every single point the entire weekend and being down 3-5 in Sacramento’s final game, Trevor decided he didn’t want to go winless on the weekend and put the team on his back for an 8-1 run to win. During that run he won every single jump ball thrown by either team, the majority of which were him vs 3 taller opponents. He would let opponents get 10 yards behind him then make a run-through D. He would shrug off incessant fouling on the mark to throw a number of great backhand hucks. There was nothing any of his opponents could do to stop him from doing whatever he wanted.
I was only able to watch Sunday, but that included games against Cal and a rising Nevada-Reno and I am very confident in the statement that he was the best player on the field 100% of the time. According to his older brother the same was true Saturday, including against Stanford. Obviously take that with a grain of salt, but Sac State did put up more points on Stanford than any team other than Chico State.
When people talk about players who could easily start on nationals-level teams but are instead relegated to obscurity because they go to schools without good programs, they are talking about players like Trevor. Sacramento State has not played a single sanctioned tournament with a full line of subs, and are more often closer to savage. None of their players have played organized ultimate before starting their college careers, and most are average to below average in terms of athleticism for a D-1 college ultimate team. Without Trevor they probably wouldn’t win a single game all season. With him they’ve won 6 and were within 1 on 3 other occasions. Put him on a team that doesn’t force him to play every single point of every single game and he would be simply unstoppable.
For sure none of the Stanford players from last year’s team that finished second and had 0 all region selections.
2 Likes
I don’t think you can properly decide until after regionals, but here are people on my watchlist from the teams I’ve seen in person or on tape. I only listed teams who have qualified for Regionals plus the 6 from SoCal expected to qualify based on seeding.
All Region:
Stanford: Elliott Chartock (#10), Nolan Walsh (#17), Sam Kunz (#3), Josh Kapilivsky (#21)
UC Santa Barbara: Grant Novins (#13), Will Turner (#14)
Cal Poly: Joel Anton (#82), Nate Pettyjohn (#19)
UC San Diego: Cody Kirkland (#22)
Arizona State: Aaron Flegenheimer (#10), Andrew Kohl (#2)
Chico State: Jessep Macfarlane (#15)
UC Santa Cruz: Lior Givol (#10)
UC Davis: Ben Souvey (#7)
San Diego State: Mark Slader (#42)
Have seen: California, Santa Clara, Nevada-Reno
Have not seen: USC, UCLA, Arizona, Northern Arizona
FOTY:
Nick Hirning (#33), Stanford
2 Likes
Disclosure: I coach Northern Arizona.
If you watch my guys you’ll probably notice senior #36 Kevin Farrell getting huge layout blocks, routinely getting open for big gainers, scoring lots of goals, and playing nearly every point. #17 Jeff Morrison is our 5th year center handler, the heart of the team, and has been dropping some dimes. One to watch for the future is sophomore #00 Brad Wylam, who pulls, breaks marks, hucks, goes deep, and plays deep-deep. As his decision-making improves he’ll be a monster.
From Arizona you should definitely look for #14 John “Ogre” Patinella. At conferences he wasn’t bombing it deep like I’ve seen at other occasions (he certainly has those throws) but he is pretty much exactly what you want from your center handler. Excellent in possession, generates tons of break looks and hits them reliably, can get it every other with the throw and go. I’ve never seen any hype for him before but I think he’s one of the very best handlers in the region and has been for a couple years. Heck of a nice guy, too, on and off the field.
Migal Manickaraj - (#19) Had the pleasure of playing high school with him. Usually handles, but has the ability to play the ace position very well. If you watch film on San Diego, you usually see him being a reliable handler reset and moves the disc comfortably to the break side for continuations. Has powerful hucks but rarely uses them. Plays system very well. Unfortunately hampered by injuries, when healthy he is a very solid player
As the region goes into the series, keep an eye out for these three SDSU players,
Zeke Ivers #3
Max Hume #99
Mark Slader #42
I play for Colorado State, and we’ve played several Southwest teams over the course of this season. All these guys deserve some serious discussion for All-Region.
SLO:
Joel Anton (#82)
Ian Sweeney (#33)
Nate Pettyjohn (#19)
SDSU:
Zeke Ivers (#3)
Max Hume (#99)
UCSD:
Cody Kirkland (#22)
Chico:
Austin Barden (#11)
I’ll vouch for Trevor as well. No one that I’ve played against solely has as big of an impact on their team as he does. In the two games I’ve seen him play, there has not been a single mistake on his part that I can recall. He won every jump ball, when we forced him under he beat us with his hucks. He takes control of the game on O and D and their is little you can do about it. I don’t expect him to get All Region. but he deserves recognition.
1 Like
Is trevor number 18 on sac state? That guy is an absolute dick to his teammates constantly belittling them for execution errors such as errant throws or drop passes. Make poor decisions such as losing track of his man when he poaches, or throwing up 50/50 jump ball then blame that on his teammates for catching them. He would not even play with that kind of attitude on a good team, where sideline talk and cheering for your teammates are required. If that is a quality you look for in a team leader, then he deserves recognition.
1 Like
I doubt you are thinking of Trevor because that doesn’t sound like him and because he wears #3.
FOTY : Nick Hirning (#33 on Stanford)
Please don’t vote for Trevor Colton for All-Region.
I’ll never hear the end of it, and I have to play club with him this year.
Thanks,
Older Brother
Seconding Austin Barden for Chico. He’s a definite cornerstone for the team both on and off the field.
3 Likes
Watch for Barden (#11) and the Chico squad. They have a habit of stirring it up.
I like to give credit where credit is due. I’m one of the captains of SLOCORE, this is just my opinion.
First,
COTY - Peter Raines (Cal Poly). Three years ago, we were ranked 164th. Two years ago, we didn’t make Regionals. Since Peter has coached us, we’ve improved significantly. He’s put in an incredible amount of time and effort planning practices and meetings with captains. But most significantly, he’s the main reason why we are so successful this year. We may have some athletic guys, but he’s had the patience to develop us into a team. I can’t say enough good things about him.
FOTY - Nick Hirning (Stanford). This guy is really impressive for a freshman, definitely deserves it.
All-Region:
UCSD: Cody Kirkland - Best handler in SW, very spirited (Potential POTY).
SDSU: Zeke Ivers - atheltic, polished, and definitely one of the best players in the SW (Potential POTY).
Mark Slader - The other dominant player/handler for SD. No wonder those two gave Oregon a run for their money.
UCSB: Many solid, talented players but they had two players that gave us a lot of trouble.
Will Turner - The anchor of that team. He can cut, handle, play defense on anybody in the region (Potential POTY)
Jack ??? - Offensive cutter that made some ridiculous plays against us. We couldn’t stop him only limit him.
ASU: Aaron Flegenheimer and Andrew Kohl - both big athletes. They were limited in the wind but that doesn’t take away from their athleticism.
Chico State: Barden and Macfarlane - like ASU, athletic guys. Don’t remember too much since they were early in the season.
UCSC: Lior Givol - a very solid, polished handler. That team runs through him.
Stanford: Elliot Chartock - Solid, composed, reliable Handler. A lot of their offense runs through him. He has a good arsenal of throws.
Nolan Walsh - Two way player, Deadly deep cutter with decent throws. definitely deserves recognition
Kapilivsky - Smart handler. Ran the show with Chartock.
Cal Poly: I got to give some love to my teammates.
Nate Pettyjohn(#9) - Offensive cutter that had most of the offensive highlights. He won one-on-one match ups with players like Jeff Babbit, Khalif El-Salaam, Dalton Smith, Joel Clutton and others. Only a sophomore, he’s got great field awareness and potential to be in the Callahan conversation the next few years if he keeps improving. (Potential POTY)
Joel Anton(#82) - As a senior, he anchored the O-line for most the year. Teams would stop throwing zone on us if it wasn’t windy enough because of his devastating hammers. He definitely deserves some credit.
Chris Cogswell(#14) - Co-Captain, Senior. He’s the guy flying through the air for chest high defensive layouts on our vids.
Ian Sweeney(#33) - As a sophomore, he’s the “Lanky Lefty” who anchored our D-Line’s Offense. Huge throws, unstoppable break throws, and a mark that you can’t throw around.
Notable: Cameron Wariner (#11) [junior] did not play the entire season so I don’t want put him in this conversation but if he did, I’d put him as the POTY. Best two way player in the SW.
Definitely missed a few players but this is what I remember.