All-Region 2019: Southwest (D-I Men's)

[SWdood]

Hello, I’ve spent a lot of time at multiple SW tournaments this year and this is the best list I can come up with from what I’ve seen both in person and from film. I tried to do my homework to give what I think is the best representation of the best players in the region, but of course there are some teams that I just wasn’t able to get a good grasp of, either from lack of footage, or from not seeing enough games. Bear with me on some of the jersey numbers.

1st Team
Alex Pan (Cal) #19 - Extremely intelligent thrower, always finding a way to get the disc into his hands, where he is a great distributer. Has a lot more restraint than some of his more gunslinger-type teammates and is also very quick.
Caleb Marriam (SLO) #21 - Somehow manages to hit every throw imaginable, and still puts the disc in the perfect place for his cutter to catch it. Also an underrated defender in the rare instance where SLO’s offense turns the disc over
Sean Liston (SLO) #20 - Monstrous defender, reliable thrower and cutter, and seems like just a great leader to have on the team.
Justin Ting (SLO) #35 - I’ve never seen this guy make a mistake, and always seems to take the most challenging matchup on opposing teams. Endless motor, incredibly fast, and plays great help defense on top of shutting his own guy down.
Kieran Bates (UCSB) #32 - No team from the games I saw was able to shut him down as a cutter, and he was usually able to get open wherever he wanted. Generated a lot of big plays, and also a huge threat with the disc in his hands.
Wyatt Paul (USC) #4 - So fast, and has turned into a good thrower as well. Covers a ton of space defensively and has an uncanny ability to both read the disc and his opponents in the air.
Sam Cook (USC) #2 - I really think Lockdown could’ve used his presence in the cutting space more this year to do a better job of gaining chunks of yards. Everyone knows about his skills as a thrower, but his athleticism is still a little underrated.

2nd Team/Honorable Mention
Conor Schofield (SLO) #19 - just an insane athlete, wish he pulled the trigger on throws more often.
Nate Pettyjohn (SLO) #9 - Can’t talk about the best players in the region without bringing him up. However, the lack of service time should keep him off the top list.
Nick Hirning (Stanford) #?? - Disgusting control of the disc, surprisingly quick as well.
Dillon Whited (SLO) #8 - Another SLO athletic beast. So sneaky with that hood on too.
Kyle Johnson (UCSB) #?? - Seems pretty raw in terms of disc skills but an absolute pest on defense and a great cutter.
Aaron Hom (UCSC) #?? - Seems like he’s been around forever, so much fun to watch, and you just wish he had a little more talent around him.
Calvin Brown (SLO) #81 - Didn’t hear this guy was a freshman until NW Challenge. WTF, good luck for the next 3 years Southwest.

-J

[Caleb]

This is totally Ian Sweeney, captain of Core. You can tell by my photo.

Wanted to write about a couple of people related to Core’s success tonight.

First, Cody Mills is the SW coach of the year. When was the last time a SW team was ranked top 5 in the country? I have no clue and don’t feel like researching it. Point is, it hasn’t been in the past 5 years that I have been playing. It is a rare thing, but it isn’t the sole reason he deserves COTY. The ethos he brings as a coach has been infectious, and is a large reason why we are in the best shape and the most mentally prepared we as Core ever have been.The talent he coaches can’t be a knock on his case, as he is the source of improvement practice to practice, tournament by tournament. 4 loss seasons going into nationals isn’t something that happens often, and COTY is the appropriate way to recognize the dominance he has busted his ass to produce with us this year. I’ll leave yall with some final tidbits, 15-8 against Cal in the regional final, and 13-7 against USC in the sectional final. Cody Mills’ ANAL-ytics work… and cyber-bullying through anonymous texting apps for “motivation”. Also, look at his cranial capacity!

Second person I wanted to talk about was Calvin Brown. He is the second best handler in the region as a freshman. He would be the main hub on any other SW offense, but luckily for us, he isn’t tearing us a new one. As good as the other Core freshmen have been, he has had the largest impact of any of them, and is arguably the best freshmen in the country. He had a couple glaring weaknesses coming in this Fall, but he has busted his ass to improve, and it shows (though he still can’t get open on me, Ian Sweeney). This goes beyond Foty though, he deserves 2nd team recognition for the ridiculous impact he has had on our O-line, opening up so much more space, making every spot on the field a place you must guard. This is all the more impressive considering he is a freshmen. Plus, he has had to work with Caleb all season, which is insufferable and would hinder just about anyone else (credit to the rest of our O-line too). For Calvin, I want to leave yall with this gem of your Foty and 2nd team all region star.

Thanks for your time, and vote for me for callahan cause I’m a chiller!

-Totally Ian Sweeney

[mbecich]

I’ve had the pleasure of playing with the Southwest Region for the past 4 years and seeing some impressive talent grow. I was a latecomer to this sport, pivoting from club running my sophomore year of college, so maybe that is why I have been relatively quiet in these threads and the USAU community at large (but definitely not quiet whatsoever on the sidelines, so apologies to everyone who has seen me be a fire-breathing lunatic—I promise I’m half sane if you ever wanna hang off the field). Gabe Hernandez was my freshman year roommate in college and we discovered this wild sport together (will never forget teaching him to throw and encouraging him to go try out for Blood), and I’m so glad we’re engulfed in it now.

But after 4 years, I’ve had a chance to watch some studs emerge in our region who earn my utmost respect:

Studs

Sam Cook & Wyatt Paul, USC—What will Sam Cook up next? This dude willed USC to several victories and the passion is clear: just watch his disgusting bid goal in the game to go (he can really take control when he wants to). Wyatt exhibits his athleticism around the field and if you sleep on him, he will capitalize. These two vets played big roles in USC bringing a second bid to the Southwest this year.

Ian Sweeney & Sean Liston, Cal Poly SLO—got into some battles in the backfield with these two over the last several years. Lots of other SLO players like Caleb, Dillon, Calvin, etc. controlled the disc motion like a well-oiled machine and skewered our zones but I’ve gotta give my shoutouts to the big guys who composed one of the most solid deep defenses in the region. They have been anchors to the team the past few years, and for a large part because of Ian and Sean, SLO has punched its well-deserved return ticket to nationals.

Alex Pan & Munis Thahir, Cal—as has been said, Alex commands UGMO’s offense. I sadly didn’t get many interactions on the field with him since I was mostly on O-line, but my boombox could never get in his head and he seems like a really nice guy—stoked to play on Spiders with him. Munis also leveled up big this year, flourishing with several critical blocks (and a Greatest) in the game to go. Keep it up Guppy and hope you both make some big plays at nationals!

Nick Tolfa, UC Davis—have been playing with Nick for several years in the section/region, I have to give hats off to him for always being a spirited competitor. Nick owns his matchup no matter who is across from him and definitely seemed like the backbone for a really impressive UC Davis team. He’s been a rock to our conference and deserves recognition after fighting so hard for several years.

Kevin Tien, Stanford—you can’t have blood without a heart to pump it. Kevin had big shoes to fill after the departure of Gabe, Allan & some veterans last year, but he more than rose to the occasion. Labeled as a handler, Kevin cuts, throws, sky’s, bids and everything in between. He is the force to our offense and defense—initiating the most important cuts to catalyze our stacks and coming through clutch with game-turning D’s. Most importantly, during a year of rebuilding, Kevin led by example and by spirit as he willed our team to new heights our young guys would have been unfamiliar with had it not been for Kevin. I’m so excited for how he’ll lead the team and level up as an individual next year because I’m convinced this kid’s all-around game exceeds Gabe’s in many dimensions. I’ve never seen someone who cares about frisbee so much and it truly is inspiring the more you get to know Kevin as a human being #MVLeech

Nick Hirning, Stanford—Nick has dominated this game ever since arriving his rookie season 4 years ago. But this year, he became one of our captains (along with Kevin and Phillip) and took a leadership role not only in our development but in our will to win. Nick is much more willing to sacrifice his body and make those critical bids on defense or upline sky’s as a last resort on offense. I didn’t think Nick could make even more calculated throws, but this big nerd found a way to level up his game & accuracy further. He is one of the smartest ultimate players I have ever met, and I am so grateful for the intensity and knowledge of the game he instilled in our team.

Stud Muffins

Phillip Cathers , Stanford — Despite missing fall quarter by traveling abroad in Spain, Phil returned Philthier than ever, leading our defensive charger. Our “Jesus” doppelgänger does more than just get jaw-dropping D’s and shut down on the mark; he transformed into a solid D-line handler that filled the gap for likely our biggest weakness at the beginning of the season. Phillip is also one of the nicest guys in any game and a class act for this sport.

David Mondry, Stanford — when this kid hits the dirt, he’s in BEAST mode. I witnessed Mondry transform from mediocre to great last season, and this year he stepped right into a leadership role as a primary handler. Not only is he a huge huckboy, he also plays some of the most wicked defense in the region—nowhere is safe on the field. David definitely has a competitor mentality and is a ton of fun to play with.

Ashwin Vaidyanathan, Tommy Lin— These vets were at the core of an amazing run to Nationals. Ashwin complements Alex as one of the best weapons on O while Tommy will not let any mistakes fly without making you suffer. Both were a ton of fun to play with and add so much energy on offense and defense respectively.

Humboldt’s MilkMan (?), UCSD’s Spud, and Cal’s Brian Kooperberg played some dominant deep defense that definitely neutralized our deep space threats. Hats off to them for playing with grit & spirit throughout the season.

I definitely missed some of the talent at UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, Reno, Arizona, and lots of other teams throughout the region, but thank you to everyone for a wonderful season!

All-freshman: Colin Grant, Stanford—this frosh had 20 goals and 0 turnovers at regionals. 10 of those were diving, toe-ing in, skying, or some extremely complicated maneuver. Cool, calm, collected and he’s only been playing ultimate for one year. I never expected a rookie to step up into a big role this quickly, but Colin has proved without doubt that he is ready to catch and throw and skewer defenses. I can’t wait to watch this kid’s trajectory throughout college.

Coach of the year: Cody definitely has been building an impressive program for a few years in the making that is worthy of recognition, but for this season, I have to give it Dan Silverstein and his impressive run to Nationals. He instilled a lot of confidence in his program and knew all along that he had all the pieces to build a national-caliber team. Hats off to UGMO & SLO and good luck in Austin to you both!

-SAiL

[cmills (Cody Mills)]

As you might have guessed, this is Cody Mills and I coach Cal Poly-SLO. SLOCORE played against the top two finishers from every pool this year so I’ve seen a majority of the regional field.

Before I start, I want to stump for the boys a little bit. CORE is a deep team this year. We had 22 out of 27 active players play at least 3 points in the finals of regionals. We don’t always have to ask the world of our top players and our top players, to their credit, also buy into the team-first approach. That doesn’t mean that those top guys don’t deserve to be recognized for being ballers.

1st Team

Sam Cook (USC #2)- Almost willed a fairly top-heavy team through a 4-game backdoor gauntlet on Sunday. Respect.
Dillon Whited (Cal Poly #8)- When Dill is in the zone, might be the best player in the region. When he’s in that mode he reads the game faster than almost anyone (on both O and D) and he goes from athletic & talented to dominant.
Caleb Merriam (Cal Poly #21)- The rock of the SLO O-line and overall team leader. He’s our quarterback, and he has every break, huck, and over the top in the book and the discretion to pick his shots.
Wyatt Paul (USC #4)- RT what I said last year. Dude is a problem. Tall, fast, solid throws and hustle for days. Dominant for USC all year long.
Sean Liston (Cal Poly #20)- Best cutter defender in the region, despite playing through a nagging injury in the second half of the year. Dynamic on a turnover and a leader by example.
Alex Pan (Cal #19)- Super impressed by his ability to grind through resets and will himself open upline. Makes the hardest throws for Cal’s O with consistency.
Nick Hirning (Stanford #33)- Hirning throws like Kyrie dribbles. Crazy control and versatility as a thrower with a high ceiling on defense as well.

2nd Team

Ian Sweeney (Cal Poly #33)- D-Offense quarterback who has also really stepped up in his individual defense this year.
Justin Ting (Cal Poly #35)- Lockdown defender all year long and a driving force on the turn. Consistently gives opposing handlers fits
Mike Becich (Stanford #28)- Cheat code in the deep space. Perhaps not as complete a player as others listed but he certainly owns the skies.
Ashwin Vaidyanathan (Cal #17)- Great thrower and every-other handler for the Cal D. That teams gets a lot of breaks and Ashwin is a huge part of their conversion.
Conor Schofield (Cal Poly #19)- Missed some time with injury but Conor is an ankle breaking cutter. Complete package on O, plus a great defender.
Kieran Bates (UCSB #32)- Tide asked a lot of Kieran this year and he delivered. Consistently open as a cutter and arguably Tide’s best thrower as well.
Calvin Brown (Cal Poly #81)- He’s a freshmen but he deserves all-region. Seamlessly worked into the offense with talent and poise beyond his years, and has continued to work to get better despite seeing early success.

Honorable Mention

Nick Tolfa (Davis), Tommy Lin (Cal), Kevin Tien (Stanford), Jake Thorne (Cal Poly), Nate Pettyjohn (Cal Poly)

FOTY

Calvin Brown (Cal Poly #81)- See above, starting O handler and already playing like he’s been around for years.
Jake Thorne (Cal Poly #23)- Consistently takes and gets blocks on top matchups, and a big drivers on turns
KJ Koo (Cal Poly #27)- Starts on our O-line and makes plays. Great decision making and underrated technical skills.
Colin Grant (Stanford #13)- Blood asks a lot of him and he comes through. Particularly impressive since apparently he only played 1 year in high school.
Emmet Holton (Cal Poly #70)- Overshadowed a little on D-Offense because of Ian and JT but when we give Emmet the keys to the offense he shines.