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.
Just gunna throw some names from the best couple of teams in the region.
Minnesota: of course Jagt is a monster, but this team is deep. Tristan van de moortelle runs the d-line. Sam Kaminsky and Wyatt Meckler are both very good handlers. In terms of Freshman, Theres a kid who played for Edina, he’s pretty good.
Carlton: Eric Taylor and Henry Fischer are both excellent cutters, and Dillion Lanier and Stanley Birdsong both have played at an exceptional level for freshmen.
Wisconsin: really when we played these guys they seemed like a faceless army. That one red head kid was alright, but he made some terrible calls, and seemed really whiney.
Minn-Duluth: 2 guys stuck out. #20 marty adams and #14 unknown. These guys can ball and run this team. Not to diminish anything from the rest of the team, but these 2 really stand out.
Iowa: watched these guys a couple of times, and the biggest story is #24 Dom Peluso and #5 Tyler Barrett shredding defences with their throws and quick movement. They have some really tall athletic cutters, but they took a backseat to handler movement. Don’t know about freshmen for this team.
Ia state: 2 guys stand out. #7 Joel Morton and #23 Ben Jaeger (probably didn’t spell that last name right) #7 has great throws and is tall and fast. #23 Is big and athletic and dominates in the air. Watching him play against Minn at huck finn, he made plays against some of the best players on that team including Jagt.
I have never seen a single player more dedicated to the success of his team; as captain of Iowa IHUC this season, the Worm 
cut himself for the success of his team, in order to follow his true calling as a high school coach. This inspirational leadership move will undoubtedly burst open the pipeline of Iowa High School ultimate, flooding the University of Iowa with the pure raw talent of his dozens of Wormbabies. I cannot stress enough how much The has displayed selfless leadership and dedication to the sport. I nominate for 1st Team All Region. I understand that there’s other good players too so if there’s not room on the 1st team then please do put him on the 2nd team. While he may not technically be a college ultimate player anymore this season, he is hands down the best college player in the North Central Region. Worm is love Worm is life.
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I don’t want to reveal my identity but I will say that I am a UNC Darkside alumni.
Michael “The Worm” Wormley was absolutely snubbed of all region last year. The Worm is a good handler, but is a phenomenal thrower, and is likely the best thrower in the region with his off hand. Learning from him about throwing has changed my game, and he recently told me that he has thrown every single day for 1500 days in a row, missing only Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, which I would imagine is probably a record. The Worm’s greatness does not stop with his throws; he is also one of the best throwing coaches I’ve ever seen. The Worm is, without a doubt, the reason I am the thrower that I am today. If it weren’t for his tutelage there is no way I would’ve won the 2015 Callahan Award. My All-Region Team (in no particular order)
• Michael Wormley
• The Worm
• Mike “The Worm” Wormley
• Any 4 cutters
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I’m real happy to see Michael “Earthworm Jim” Wormley mentioned here. I will say that two years ago Carleton, Minnesota, and Wisconsin all adjusted their defenses pretty specifically just to him, and Carleton shouted shooter every time he touched the disc, which I have to believe was a huge honor and pretty big deal to the man personally. Though he may not be a great all around player, I do consider him to be an elite thrower. His throws are ahead of his time to be quite honest. The don’t call him the Bookworm for no reason boys - I’ve never seen a college player read a disc with more lexical comprehension that this man. The Tapeworm is known for his ability to just slither in and penetrate any teams defense, and it would be an absolute disgrace to the North Central region if he was again snubbed from the 1st team.
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Obviously players like Ben Jagt, Avery Johnson, and Sol Yanuck are fantastic players, but they’re also known commodities. I feel like these discussion threads are more meant for the less-heralded players, guys who might not get the recognition of the stars but are still super important to their team’s success. So imma focus on those guys. A note: these are simply my impressions from watching a lot of film this season, and feature players exclusively from the region’s “big three”.
Carleton
Eric Taylor- Defensive stopper and dynamo on a turn
Elliot Mawby- Stepped into a bigger role this season as a big man on D and has done well
Natan Lee-Engel- transitioned into a handler role on offense this year, and made it look easy
Wisconsin
Nick Ladas- Fifth-year big man on D, Ladas takes tough matchups and generates a lot of firepower on a turn
David Yu- fantastic d handler, improved majorly from last year
Jan Szmanda/Graeme Kernick- These guys are both fifth-year O-line handlers and both have excelled in that role this season. I actually can’t elevate one higher than the other, so I’m just sticking them together.
Minnesota
Tony Poletto- One of the best break-throwers in the country, will also take off deep
Alex Jirele- Switched from defense to offense and has been a great utility guy
Charlie McCutcheon- Grad student, small but mighty. Huge on D
All-freshman
Joe White (Carleton)
Dillon Lanier (Carleton)
Stan Birdsong (Carleton)
Cole Jurek (Minnesota)
Jonah Malenfant (Minnesota)
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The Freshman on U of M who played for Edina last year is Wystan Duhn. He was also 2016 First Team All-State for Minnesota High School League last year.
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Also, can confirm that Joel Morton is a serious talent. Very complete player and he has the type of character that would make him a great teammate on any team.
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From what I heard about Mike Wormley was that he tried undermining the captains all Fall and all of 2016. He called a meeting with the captains and coaches and gave them an ultimatum after skipping practice for a month to essentially hand him all the power or he wouldn’t play for them (showing up to the meeting drunk and high) and they chose to cut his ass.
Got a funny text today from a friend today that Wormley said he was going to play for Madison Club this year and spilled coffee laughing. A kid who has cut been cut from every elite team he has ever tried out for and played on a crappy club team’s crappy B team last year is going to make our team.
The ego is unreal. I look forward to laughing at him.
#HashtagGoHodags
Okay So English isn’t really my first language but here me out thank you please. I’ve been see a lot of weird hype towards the wormley Michael and I don’t know if its sarcasm or if he has loyal fans. But please do not make fun this is a serious forum for the upcoming all teams election. Listen to me I have played with him for many ultimate frisbee game and I can write excellent review: wormy is truly good teammate and real deal. I do not know about him becoming high and drunk but if he did does that make him any less of ultimate frisbee super star? He had best throwing skills in the whole north central section last year so do you think he will have gotten worse? NO! In fact he only has gotten better and more skilled at his passes. I think that I will actually vote for the Michael Worm two times because I support and respect and support him so much and everyone else should do like wise. Again I am sorry if it is trouble to understand my point of view because like I said English is not my native language but ultimate frisbee is and I can see that worm needs our help this year. Let us put our differences aside this day and pull together for Michael in his hour in need we vote him all conference team leader. Just my two sense.
This is the same account that claimed to be a hodag alum last year as he insulted a current hodag. Doesn’t surprise me that whoever is running this account is back at it again being a jerk, claiming to be part of a program that they really aren’t. Big bolded “HashtagGoHodags”? Your attempt to play the character of someone you aren’t is very poor.
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Number 14 on Duluth is Tyler Thomegreene,
And yes, he and Marty Adams are far and away the best players on our roster, both very deserving of recognition.
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First Team -
Ben Jagt - Minnesota
Avery Johnson - Wisconsin
Sol Yanuck - Carleton
Eric Taylor - Carleton
Henry Fisher - Carleton
Marty Adams - UMD
Ladas/VDM/Kaminsky
Second Team Conteneders
Elliot Mawby - Carleton
Natan Lee Engel - Carleton
Nick Ladas - Wisconsin
Ben Jaeger - Iowa State
Tyler Barrett - Iowa
Dom Peluso - Iowa
Tristan VDM - Minnesota
Tyler Thomegreene - UMD
Joel Morton - Iowa State
Tony Poletto - Minnesota
Wyatt Meckler - Minnesota
Sam Kaminsky - Minnesota
Will Hean - Iowa
Freshmen
Dillon Lanier - Carleton
Stanley Birdsong - Carleton
Joe White - Carleton
Cole Jureck - Minnesota
Wynstan Dunn - Minnesota
John Malenfant - Minnesota
???
The first and second team could easily be filled with entirely Minnesota/CUT/Wisco players, with the exception of Marty Adams. He gets whatever he wants in his matchups and is the backbone for his team, often playing D line points as well. Deserving of first team in my opinion. Will be interesting to see if Iowa State/Iowa get represented
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The amount of disrespect those individuals have shown to my teammate, Michael, is classless. You have no idea what a person could possibly be going through, given their particular situation. Ultimate has always been a sport built on integrity of character and respect for the competition. Regardless of your opinions towards this person, you lack tact and relevance to the discussion at hand. I hope the moderators of this site can make amends for allowing this to happen.
Outside the respect I have for my Iowa crew, players on other teams that I have encountered that deserve All-Region honors include:
Eric Taylor - Carleton
Marty Adams - UMD
Joel Morton - Iowa State
These guys are what make our sport incredible to be a part of.
All-Freshman shout out to my teammate Nick Culver. He has developed both as a player and a respectable individual.
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An underrated player that deserves a mention is Wyatt Meyer of Marquette Birdhouse. A guy who puts spirit and team first rather than his own play. Yet, he is still the most all around talented player on Marquette. He leads the team in goals (31) and follows that up with 29 assists (as a cutter) in just 222 touches. So you could be all mathy and say that he scores or assists 1/4th of the time he touches the disc. However, I want to focus on his spirit and commitment to playing the game the right way. As some know, birdhouse has one of the best(but mostly the quirkiest) sidelines in the game. Those quirky and fun cheers are mostly the brainchild of Wyatt. Furthermore, with 19 new freshman on the team, in the fall Wyatt would selflessly stay on the sideline in order for rookies to get experience on the field. Lastly, you will never meet a more spirited player. He will sky you, genuinely make sure that you are okay, and THEN throw for a score.
Lastly, I want to throw the name Andrew Galgan out there as an amazing freshman talent. Playing his first year of ultimate he already has bomb flicks and backhands. On top of that, he is an ex-track dude who turned down a scholarship. He is wicked athletic. Led the team in scoring at sectionals.
As a recent Iowa grad from 2016, generally these discussions are lopsided due to a lack of writers from the Iowa side. I get that with Ultiworld coverage, it’s hard to really tell how could some guys on other teams are so let me share some perspective of some great guys who are too humble to post about themselves or worry on these threads (and most importantly, guys who win match ups no matter who they have on them).
Eric Taylor - Carleton: Just kidding, super awesome dude though and I love giving him a shout out whenever I can! (1st Team All Region)
Tanner Boyle - Iowa State: This dude was the rock of the o-line for ISUC this year, and while I hate saying it, is a pretty baller player. Can make any throw, in any condition, and let’s just say they could not have beat Wisco at regionals without him. (2nd Team All Region)
Will Hean - Iowa: Tall athletic o-line cutter, with the speed/jumps/throws to excel at the highest level of ultimate. I’d say after Ben Jagt and that Henry kid from Carleton, he’s probably the most athletic cutter in the Region and it would honestly be the stupidest list in the world if he wasn’t a 1st Team all-region player. So often we read on these threads “that tall guy from Iowa” when discussing players for consideration of all-region. Well, this is that guy that keeps skying you. (1st Team All Region)
Dom Peluso - Iowa: Incredible person to watch, and even harder to guard due to his incredible acceleration, this cheeky handler is unguardable at the college level. I believe he was a FotY candidate, and he’ll make the dirtiest layouts to help his team out. (2nd Team All Region)
Watch list for next Season:
Tyler Barrett - Iowa: What. A. Thrower. As a sophomore, this kid will break any mark on him. The stalwart o-line handler is a handling savant, and has way too much hustle on defense. This shout out is for ultiworld to watch him for next year, and so you have a name to the face that keeps breaking your team’s marks.
Reno Brinn - Iowa: Best defender in the region (bar none). Runs the d-line offense and breaks ankles when needed. Another sophomore to watch for next year.
When it comes to the Top 14 guys in this region, let’s be a bit realistic on who gets taken because they won’t all be from the big three. I could see Ben Jagt, Kaminsky, Tristan VDM, and Bumstead from MN. Also Henry Fisher, Eric Taylor, Sol Yanuck, Natan for Carleton, but outside of Avery Johnson I can’t honestly feel good about another hodag. Not with the talents of Marty Adams, Will Hean, Tanner Boyle, Dom Peluso and Joel Morton in the same region. So there’s my final thoughts, and here’s my All Region Teams:
1st Team:
Eric Taylor - Carleton
Henry Fisher - Carleton
Natan Lee Engel - Carleton
Ben Jagt - Minnesota
Will Hean - Iowa
Tristan Van De Moortele - Minnesota
Marty Adams - Duluth
2nd Team:
Kaminsky - Minnesota
Bumstead - Minnesota
Tanner Boyle - Iowa State
Avery Johnson - Wisconsin
Dom Peluso - Iowa
Sol Yanuck - Carleton
Joel Morton - Iowa State
I’ve already said my big 3 guys, and after playing or watching all of them this weekend, I can safely say I was right. same goes for Minn-Duluth. Post-regions, I would like to focus on the Iowa teams, that I thought did very well this weekend.
Iowa: Again Tyler Barrett and Dom Peluso are the truly great at breaking the mark and overall distribution. I don’t know about 2nd team for either, but they are deserving of a shoutout. As for Will Hean, he is capable of some great things, but throws it away a lot, and really just seemed lazy when cutting. If he was giving more effort, he would probably be 2nd team. Also shoutout for taking half on Minn.
Ia state: These guys beat Wisconsin, so they get a few extra line. As previously stated, Joel Morton, and Ben Joerger (looked it up on usau this time) are big threats. Morton in particular was unaffected by the weather in his play, and composure. I missed the game that they won against Wisco, but I did watch the rematch, which wasn’t pretty, but had some interesting insights into the team. a numberless, pinny wearing dark haired fellow was a very important 2 way handler for this team. He had some impressive throws, and good lockdown defense. #6 Was also a 2 way player, and might have had the best pulls I saw of the day, especially in the inclement weather. great deep defender, somebody fill me in on his name. The whole d-line throws there bodies around, and that’s worth a nod too. Lastly, when this team was down by a clear margin Wisco had worked the disc downwind and was about to break when #80 got a layout d on a break throw from #23 on the hodags (I think), asked around, and he’s a freshman. Later that point he shot it upwind, and it was a turnover. I don’t know how good he is, but I’d like to see more of this team on the all region thread, so shoutout for him too.
Luther: 3 people. #27 Owen Schleif. Center Handler on this team, and easily their best thrower. Played a ton of points, and didn’t seem to tire out too easliy. #5 big man Paul Fritzell Just a big athletic cutter, who has great pulls. Last #23 name unknown short athletic handler defender. Handler on a turn, with solid throws, and blazing speed.
My votes are as follows.
First team
Sol Yanuck (CUT)
Henry Fisher (CUT)
Natan Lee-Engel (CUT)
Ben Jagt (Minn)
Tristan Van de Moortelle (Minn)
Wyatt Mekler (Minn)
Marty Adams (Minn-Duluth)
2nd team
Avery Johnson (Wisco)
Sam Bumstead (Minn)
Cole Wallin (Minn)
Sam Kaminsky (minn)
Eric Taylor (CUT)
Ben Joerger (IA State)
Joel Morton (IA State)
Freshman
Jonah Malenfant (Minn)
Wystan Duhn (Minn)
Cole Jurek (Minn)
Stanley Birdsong (CUT)
Dillion Lanier (CUT)
Joe White (CUT)
Maddox Hill (Wisco)
As a player for Luther, wanted to provide some insight on a couple of players that were big for us this year. As like others have mentioned, the top 3 teams in this region draw a lot of attention (rightfully so), and often not a lot is known about individual players on other teams. So here’s a bit about Luther-
#42 Evan Berg- Our most powerful player. Big, strong, fast, great throws, hard physical defense. Prototypical cutter, but handled for us most of this year to get the disc in his hands more. Generates big hucks that we would have severely missed without him. Cannot understate his importance to our team this year
#44 Jon Lovagnini- Product of Hopkins, J-Lo does it all. Seamlessly transitions between cutting and handling as needed. Offensively has incredible range, great hands, great throws. Defensively he’ll come out of nowhere with a massive layout D that will leave you wondering where he came from. One of our best at going up and getting 50/50 discs. I am firmly convinced he would be a starter on any team in the region, and he’s only a sophomore this year- Looking forward to what he can accomplish in his junior and senior years
#23 Peter Murry- Small, but built like a tank and probably one of the fastest players in the region. Beats people strike all game long, even after teams adjust and start 3 yards off. Lockdown defender on handlers or cutters. Also of note, played through a shoulder injury that really wasn’t ready for competition and still had a great weekend
#27 Owen Schlief- Our center O-line handler this year, one of the best throwers on the team. High ultimate IQ and great field vision, and plays plus defense on the turn. Doesn’t hesitate to put his body on the line
#5 Paul Fritzell- Probably 6’4" or 6’5", but moves like someone that’s 6’1". He’s a big cutter threat deep and in the air, but also gets unders all game long. Throws really progressed this year too, improved a lot on pulls and downfield hucks
#24 Henry Craig- This was only his second year of ultimate, but made huge leaps this year. Has a great defensive mindset and often takes opposing teams’ top cutters. Offensively is shifty and good at creating space both under and deep
Also of note, of this group only Evan was a senior this year- Keep an eye on the rest of these guys next year and beyond
Iowa State player here with some thoughts from the teams that we played this weekend. First of all, some of the players on our team that I think have a good shot of making noise.
Joel Morton (#7): 5th year cutter with excellent continue throws that generated a majority of our offense going upwind and downwind. Very very smart at finding cutting lanes.
Ben Joerger (#23): Most physically dominant player on the team, probably. Caught a lion’s share of our goals with some monster skies and layouts as only a sophomore.
Scott Hearne (#6): Two way sophomore cutter with some insanely good pulls. In our win over Wisconsin, he pinned them in the back of their endzone twice - we broke both times thanks to a first throw turn and a layout d.
Josh Poterack (#9): Not deserving of 1st/2nd team yet, but very very worthy of All-Freshman team. He had some huge bids for d’s and to save possession this weekend (and all season). Once he learns to be a little more confident with the disc, he could absolutely be all-region.
I’d also like to nominate Charlie Hubbard (CLX) as the North Central Coach of the Year, again. He was absolutely the catalyst for the most successful season thus far at Iowa State and the mind behind almost everything that we did offensively and defensively. He was especially instrumental in getting us to a better mindset defensively.
Players that stood out over the course of the weekend:
Carleton: I don’t have very good information on CUT because they waxed us and opened up lines fairly quickly. Sol Yanuck played well, Eric Taylor had some very good pulls (I think it was him, at least), and Henry Fisher was pretty hard to contain. Didn’t see much of #6, who I assume is their center o-line handler, but he had some bombs.
Wisconsin: Avery Johnson was out with a concussion when we beat the Hodags on Saturday, which was an absolute shame. He cleated up for a few points in the 3rd place game on Sunday (before they took a big lead), so hopefully he’s in an okay spot physically. Aside from him, Nick Ladas played very well and deserves first team recognition. Eric Von Kampen (sp?) balled out for their d-line offense.
Minnesota: Probably the best shutdown defense that we played against all weekend. Tristan Van de Moortele ran the show mainly and did a great job. Jagt is exactly as advertised, but I don’t think that he’s the player of the region. It helps that they beat us by a lot and didn’t need him to do much - he just didn’t seem to have much of an impact on our semifinal game. I imagine that, had it been closer, Wyatt Mekler would’ve played well too. At Huck Finn we played them much closer and he basically just did what he wanted to on offense.
Iowa: They run basically everything through their two handlers that were mentioned above by a few people - the rain and wind might have hurt them a little more than the other teams due to the high volume of throws. I didn’t get to see them play this weekend so I’m not sure how they stacked up point-by-point to the top teams in the region but we always had good games with them and I’m guessing that Will Hean played well.
Luther: Evan (#42) was a fun guy to talk to and made some big plays for them. #44 had a good layout d on us down the stretch.
Marquette: #9 had some insane layouts throughout the weekend. He seemed pretty trigger happy on offense and didn’t have all-region throws, but he can fly.
1st Team All-Region should probably be almost entirely CUT/Wisconsin/Minnesota. Again, I don’t think that Jagt is the player of the year necessarily, but without watching CUT v. Wisconsin or CUT v. Minnesota, it’s very hard for me to say who would replace him. I do honestly believe that between Ben Joerger and Joel Morton that Iowa State could put a player on the 1st Team.
2nd Team should still be mostly populated by the Big 3, but ~2 of the players mentioned above could make it alongside Duluth’s Marty Adams, too. Someone tell him to play elite club.
I had a fun weekend with ISUC for my last college season and am excited to see CUT/Wisconsin/Minnesota making it deep into the bracket at college nationals.