by Karl Mimmack, Tournament Director

For the first time in its history, the Colorado State High School Ultimate Tournament was a two-day affair. There were 15 teams in attendance this year after one was a no show and due to a communication error, one was left out of the contact loop. Sorry, Loveland Squid Farmers! The teams in attendance were Arapahoe, Arvada West, Boulder, Broomfield, Cherry Creek, Colorado Academy, Denver East, Fairview, George Washington, Grandview, Heritage, Jeffco Open School, Lakewood, Monarch, Rocky Mountain.

On Saturday, pool play was at Grandview HS, potentially a very windy site, but it didn't happen this year. The teams were split into four pools and for the most part, the top seed prevailed. But, dark horse and unknown George Washington showed up savage seven and played hard enough to break seed and win their pool. On Saturday afternoon, after pool play was complete, the teams were reseeded and the round of sixteen was played.

Pool A winner was Lakewood, 3-0. Pool B winner was Jeffco Open School, 3-0. Pool C winner was Grandview, winning a three-way 2-1 tie due to point differential. Pool D winner was surprising George Washington, 3-0. After the round of 16, the teams advancing to Sunday's quarterfinals were Denver East, George Washington, Jeffco Open School, Cherry Creek, Grandview, Rocky Mountain, Lakewood, and Colorado Academy. Sunday championship play was held at Colorado Academy, and it was another great day for Ultimate. In the quarterfinal matchups, it was #1 seed Lakewood versus #8 seed Denver East, #2 seed Jeffco versus #7 seed Cherry Creek, #3 seed Grandview versus #6 seed Rocky Mountain, and #4 seed George Washington versus #5 seed Colorado Academy. In games to 13 points or 80 minutes, Lakewood was at times tested by the young, spirited and energetic Denver East, but Lakewood prevailed getting to points.

The Jeffco-Cherry Creek quarterfinal was a hard fought affair with Jeffco often coming to Frisbee Central to ask or confirm certain calls made by Cherry Creek.In the end, it was Cherry Creek winning by one at the time cap, but Jeffco lodged a formal complaint that the decision to play 6-1 at the captain's meeting was not adhered to during one point, which turned out to be the difference in the score in the game. Cherry Creek didn't agree, however, because they only had one girl and were sure that she played every point.

The Grandveiw-Rocky Mountain quarter was a see-saw affair where GHS would go on a two-point run, only to be matched with a two-point run from Rocky Mountain, which happened three seperate times. Then, Rocky surged to take half, 8-7. After half, Rocky continued the surge and went up 11-7 before the time cap horn went off. Grandview dug in and scratched and clawed to tie the game at 11-11. Since the second horn had gone off, it was now next point wins. Grandview was able to get Rocky to turn it over, but they couldn't put it in and when GHS turned it over, Rocky was able to get a fast break half field huck to end it, 12-11.

In the George Washington-Colorado Academy quarter, George again showed up with savage seven, but CA had an answer for their energy this time and were able to be the first team to outlast them, advancing to the semis. Since George was savage and tired, and also since it was graduation day, they didn't stick around for the consolation bracket.
In the semis, it was Lakewood against Colorado Academy and Rocky Mountain against Cherry Creek. In a very good game, Colorado Academy played one of their best games of the year and scared Lakewood a little bit, giving them every bit of a game they deserved. But, Lakewood finally put the hammer down and finished strongly to get ready for their first state final championship game.

In the other semi, Rocky and Cherry Creek also played a great, hard game. It again went back and forth, but Rocky was a little more confident handling the disc and were able to keep it longer than Creek. So, while Lakewood prepared themselves to take a 30 minute break before the finals, Rocky was also resting in the shade of two large cottonwood trees.

Then, things got a little strange. The Rocky Mountain coaches approached the tournament director with a problem. Rocky had played an ineligible player on Saturday in pool play and the round of 16 when they beat Fairview to get into the quarters. The tournament director, the Fairview coach and the Rocky coaches thought we had it all worked out so that Fairview could see if they could play to deserve to be in the quarters. But, the other teams it would affect would be Colorado Academy and Cherry Creek, and their coaches came up with a different solution, disqualify Rocky Mountain from the tournament, which would happen at HS Nationals.

After consulting Kyle Weisbrod, the coaches involved decided to replay Rocky's side of the bracket advancing Fairview to the quarters in place of Rocky Mountain. That means that they would play Grandview in the new quarters. But, after losing to Rocky in the quarters, Grandview, being bitter from losing in the original quarters, had played an awesome, fun, incredibly spirited and imaginative game of Ultimate with equally bitter Jeffco. After ending, or so we thought, on such a high, feel good note, the Grandview players decided to leave.

With the defending champions out of the way, Fairview, being second in last year's tournament, was given new life in the new semis with only seven players. Since Cherry Creek had lost in the semis to now disqualified Rocky Mountain, they would play Fairview for a place in the finals. In a shortened game because Lakewood had been waiting all this time, savage Fairview was able to outplay Cherry Creek and return for the second year in a row to the state championship game.

In the finals, savage Fairview again played their hearts out, but it was their seven against Lakewood's 25 team members. Lakewood not only was a huge team, but their players played huge and were able to match every one of Fairview's scores with 2 or 3 of their own. For the second year in a row, Fairview placed second in the state of Colorado.

And, what can be said about Lakewood? They were obviously hungry. They practiced from fall to winter, recruited girls in the last month to adhere to the 5-2 coed suggestion at state and played like a team. Their fitness, their throwing skills, their offensive and defensive strategy, and their overall team concept was superior to the rest of the teams in the state tournament. This year, they were the cream of the crop in Colorado, played like it and deserved to win the state title.

Team spirit and spirit of the game were also evident at the tournament this year. Denver East was known for their scoring celebrations which brought the whole team onto the field to celebrate the awesomeness of their own players. Monarch had a team name, besides their school name, and a theme as well. Every team nominated one of their own to receive a Spirit of the Game medal which was handed out by UPA Director of Youth Development Kyle Weisbrod at the conclusion of play. During the tournament also, each team was to rank their opponents and give them a spirit rating. After tallying up the spirit ratings, Monarch came out on top with an amazing 9.5 average out of a possible 10!

No one knows what next year's tournament has in store, competitive and non-competitive divisions, or other disc events such as DDC, MTA, or Goaltimate. What we do know though, is that juniors Ultimate in Colorado is on the rise, and given the national ranking of Lakewood this year, we are also on the map!