Men’s Ultimate Frisbee wins back-to-back National Championships
Released: June 3, 2008
For the second consecutive year, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Men’s Ultimate Frisbee team was crowned Division III National Champions. The tournament took place in Ada, Ohio on Memorial Day weekend May 24-25.
Twenty-five teams from across the country competed in the Division III tournament hosted by Ohio Northern University. UW-Whitewater was the only Wisconsin team competing in the tournament.
Top-seeded UW-Whitewater emerged victorious with a 15-8 win in the championship game over North Park University located in Chicago. UW-Whitewater had to defeat six consecutive opponents to get a chance to defend their title.
The team traded points with North Park in the championship game until Rick Witte’s diving defensive play lead to a string of consecutive points and broke the game open.
“We are an experienced team and many of us have been playing together for four or five years,” team captain Dave Schleicher said. “Our experience and team chemistry gave us an edge over our opponents.”
For the veteran 25-player squad, just because they won the tournament last year didn’t mean this victory was any less sweet. “We practiced and conditioned hard all year,” Schleicher said. “Winning meant a lot to the entire team after all the hard work and effort we put in all year.”
Schleicher couldn’t think of a better parting gift for the 12 outgoing players. “There’s no better way to go out than with a national title.”
- Tom Applegarth,applegartg17@uww.edu
