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.
I coach Indiana Wesleyan. From the teams we’ve seen, these are the players that have stuck out, and should definitely be All-Region.
Harry Hensel, Butler: Harry is the engine for the Butler team. Has good throws and is very athletic. Against our zone he was able to run throw and goes that got behind our front line and we were never able to regain our positioning once he got there.
#21, Valparaiso: Sorry I didn’t get your name. #21 is a lanky player and that immediately goes a long way. Add hot throws and athleticism and he’s real tough to stop. We struggled to maintain him on Saturday of Conference.
Kyle Trojan, Olivet: Dude just reaches around and throws bomb forehands around our zone. Literally couldn’t stop it. Most impressive player we played this season. He’s come so far as a player over the years and it’s impressive to see.
Cameron Newman, Indiana Wesleyan: Cam is our stud handler, #22 for those who don’t recognize his name. A sophomore. He’s the engine for our offense, putting up the powerful Hucks we use to move the disc.
Caleb Davis, Indiana Wesleyan: Caleb is our shorter athletic cutter, #1. Also a sophomore, he’s tough to guard in tight spaces with the disc, and a powerful player downfield.
Valp: #5 is an unstoppable offensive and defensive threat. Can jump through the roof and sky most players.
#21 is also a good hybrid, a threat to cut and make a good through at any time
Olivet: Kyle Trojan is able to get his throw off at any time. Drops absolute dimes into his receivers hands every time
Wheaton: Donovan #11 runs the Mastodon offense. Quick and athletic with great throws.
Knox: #21 Johnathon runs the Rats offense. Quick, smart, and able to cut and throw makes him a formidable force.
#24 Alex is a great handler from knox as well.
North Park: #13 Cory wallace is a great cutter who is always around to snag an under or get a 50/50. Haven’t seen many who can shut him down yet.
#8 Tim clark has some of the best throws in the region and is only a sophomore. Will be dominate for years to come.
#2 Nate werling is dangerous on the field with throw and goes and running the show. #34 Derek Johnson should be up for Regional Freshman of the Year. Incredible play for a freshman, can take over a point against any team.
#1 Trent Cairns and #99 Joel Beyar are also incredible players on offense and defense as freshmen
I wish I had more specific players to point out from other teams—will keep an eye out at regionals.
Valpo: #21 Scott is really good. One of their main handlers with top consistent throws but can also cut and is especially good in the air. From what I’ve seen, top player in the region this year.
They also have a guy I think named Tanner who was very tough to guard and could make great grabs.
Knox: #27 has great quickness and plays bigger than his height. #21 is a great all-around player. #24 showed good handler skills.
ONU: #23 is one of the best handlers in the region.
North Park: #2 Nate is another great handler, very smart and consistent.
#53 has great quickness and is tough to guard.
#34 had great throws and seemed like an experienced handler
#10 made one of the top plays in our games at sectionals with a one-handed layout score.
Wheaton:
#11 Donovan is our best playmaker on offense and can tear up any D-III defense when he’s on. Also consistently shuts down his guy on handler D.
#71 Andrew is our savvy, experienced lefty senior. Mostly used as a handler but can also cut and plays athletic, smart D.
#27 Charlie is the best pure thrower on the team.
#91 Matt is very fast. Also good at ultimate.
#40 Christian is a freshman in his first year playing ultimate and is already one of our top cutters. Finds a way to get open on unders with incredible consistency. Our top nominee for freshman of the year.
#20 Will is another All-freshman nomination with insane athleticism and has made some of the best D plays I’ve seen this year.
(apologies for piecemeal edits; I’m doing this while at work)
Butler:
#16 Harrison Hensel
#48 Brendan Kelly
Knox:
#5 Joel Willison
#21 Johnathan Schrag
North Park:
#2 Nathan Werling
#8 Tim Clark
#13 Cory Wallace
ONU:
#15 Dan Pietz
Need to shout out Dan for all-freshman. This guy came in and in short order worked his way onto our starting offensive line. His speed is ridiculous and made him a force on both offensive and defensive sides of the disc, almost always able to get where he needed to be to make plays.
#23 Kyle Trojan
#32 Jace Patacsil
#19 Luke Wilson
Rose-Hulman:
Chris Miller, for sure
Valpo:
#21 Scott Stonis for all the reasons stated by everyone else
#5 Tanner Gesell just gets stuff done crazy well
Wheaton:
#11 Donovan - sorry about getting you broken at sectionals 
#71 was really solid
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I’m captain of Knox men, and just wanted to shout out some dudes after a great regionals weekend. Saw lots of incredible talent and strategy out there this weekend that makes it clear how far the region has come over the past couple of years. Congrats to Valpo, you guys were a really talented team with great spirit, and we’re all pulling for you guys to make some noise in Texas!
Valpo: Scott (#21) is a beast and always had to be accounted for on the field. He played every point against us in a pool play game and never slowed down. Had some absurd skies against us. Should definitely be POTY for GL in my opinion, can’t wait to see the rest of the country realize how talented you are.
#5 was a very athletic cutter, quick and could get up.
#48 was a very solid handler and a calming force for them when we broke a couple times in a row. Didn’t see him make any mistakes, and also a very solid defender.
Olivet: It’s been awesome to see Trojan (#23) grow as a player over the past couple of years. He’s always had massive flick hucks, but now he’s a complete player capable of carrying his team to big wins. Also a very spirited player and great leader for Olivet. Excited to see where he plays next.
Olivet had a bunch of other solid athletes and defenders worth mentioning: #66, #32, #42, #14.
North Park: #8 is a very talented handler and will be a force for a couple more years in the region. Nate (#2?) is a very solid defender and good leader for Park, great flick hucks as well. #13 was very active as a cutter each time we saw them. Shout out to #38 for always being super chill on the sideline even when our games got chippy.
Wheaton: #71 is a super solid handler and great defender. Consistently drew our best handler defender and still managed to lead the offense.
#11 Donovan is a great handler and cutter defender. Was sad to see he couldn’t play at regionals.
Knox: Gotta shout out some of my teammates. Perhaps you’ll want to take it with a grain of salt, but anyone who saw these Rats play this year know how deserving they are.
#24 Alec Hegg led our Dline as the best handler defender I saw in the region. #2 Ezra Schley was our central Oline handler and excelled with his break throws. Also has fantastic hair so that’s a plus. #27 Jack Harman was a force on defense. Made so many plays no one expected could be made, and really grew as a calm handler presence after the turn. Sucked to see him tear his hamstring first game of bracket. #5 Joel Willison was the dude volleyball spiking hucks all year. We’ve tried to make him catch his D’s, but he for some reason refuses. Has all the physical tools to be the best player in the region next season, either him or #6 August Lindberg. August has struggled with injuries his entire time at Knox, but finally got to show some of his talents this season even though he couldn’t flick because of an injury on his throwing hand.
Again, great season to everyone in the GL! This year the region displayed a depth we’ve been missing for a couple years and regionals really turned into a battle for each team. Can’t wait to see where the region goes from here, and looking forward to Valpo bringing some more positive attention to the GL at Natties!
Hey guys I was asked to chime in. Phill Warren ~Coach from Olivet Nazarene
Just so everyone knows I have been coaching or playing in the region for about ten years now and the amount of growth and development of talent across the board has been amazing to watch. I’ll only mention a few people on here but the increase of the level of competition across the region is something every team should be proud of.
Valpo:
Scott Stonis #21 is arguably the most dominant player in great lakes D3 this year. Just the complete set offensive and defensively.
Tanner Gesell #5 is an extremely talented receiver. Especially in the air he was very difficult to defend against.
Knox:
Jonathan Schrag #21 is exceptional in all aspects of the game. As a cutter he might be the most difficult 1v1 defensive matchup that I saw this year.
Jack Harman #27 has always been an amazing defensive player and this year we got to see him develop into a talented handler as well.
Butler:
Harry Hensel - #16 All around top talented player. The guy can cut and handle. Honestly would have liked to play Butler more this year as they were an unexpected top team in the region.
North Park:
Cory Wallace #13 is an extremely talented cutter and is very difficult to cover. He was a driving force for Park in all of our very close games this year.
Nathan Werling #2 held down the handler space for North Park and he definitely impressed me at sectionals specifically.
Wheaton:
Daniel Sedlacek #29 is a very talented cutter and he was the workhorse for Wheaton this year. Played hard on both sides of the disc and was solid in the air.
Donovan Gleeson #11 impressed me with his handling specifically in the short amount of time I was able to see him play. He is going to be very solid moving forward.
Rose:
Chris Miller #41 might be in the discussion for best individual player in the region. I only got to see him play once and he was clearly a step above the majority of athletes in D3 Great Lakes. His disc skills are extremely solid.
Lastly Olivet:
Kyle Trojan #23 I would say is one of the best handlers in the region. I would probably argue that he’s the best distance thrower in the region as well. This year he has been able to round out the rest of his game to become a more complete player and it showed in the success ONU had.
Andrew Bender #14 has some of the best awareness on the field of anyone in great lakes. He was a very good defender and cutter who was able to read situations and sets very effectively and that allowed him to play more efficiently than most.
Thanks to all teams for an amazing season of Great Lakes ultimate. I hope everyone had a great year and enjoyed playing. Good luck to the Valpo team at Nationals and we’ll all be supporting you guys from back home.
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Other captain of Knox here, great dog-fight at regionals!
We played everyone throughout the season aside from IWU, Rose and Kalamazoo, so I am pretty familiar with all the dudes in the region.
Valpo
Scott- Perhaps the best player in the region, very effective cutter and had some pearls for pulls which made receiving difficult
#5- Valpo’s main cutter, if Scott was taken out of the play it was #5 who was next up
Butler
We played them in the 3rd place game, small team so they were all pretty dead, tall blonde dude seemed legit couldn’t catch his name
Wheaton
Daniel- One of the better cutters in the region, very eager to hit the ground and had throws once he got the disc
Donovan- Smooth handler, very smart with the disc, nice guy too!
Olivet
Kyle Trojan- As everyone has mentioned above his lefty flick is a dime. Very dangerous thrower, hard to stop him throwing it deep
North Park
Nate stands out as Park’s go to guy, calming presence for them coupled with some nice throws
Tim Clark, good guy, very nice! And has great throws, smart with disc rarely turns it
Parks other captain Cory was also really nice, great defender and dangerous on turns
Shorter cutter, black hair had some really sick bids
Knox
Jon Schrag- Perhaps the top cutter in the region, difficult to guard and has some tricky throws when he gets the disc
Jack Harman- D line stalwart, can either cut or handle, made some huge plays for our defense
Joel Wilison- Dominating sky presence, would shut down basically any cutter, often times dropped back and handled
August Lindberg- Experienced player, very knowledgeable about the game and a sick athlete and great throws, was a crucial part of our O line
Alec Hegg- Main D line handler, was able to disrupt the handlers of other teams, very athletic and can run forever
A few additions post-regionals:
Rose-Hulman: #41 individually beat us on several points with his handler skills and ability to make break throws.
Butler: #16 I think, handler with give-and-go’s that wrecked us in the wet mud.
Knox: #5 pink shorts very athletic, consistently a tough matchup.
Forget his number but Ezra’s inside break throws killed us. He showed poise and consistently both times we played them.
Also really sad that #27 got injured in our game against them, could have seen them go much farther if he had been able to play in the semis.