-The Uptown Local Team

Columbia’s Ultimate Frisbee (the sport is also called Ultimate) team Uptown Local gained some national cred this past weekend, finishing an impressive fourth in regional competition.

The team‘s meteoric rise began the weekend of April 18th when they surprised the competition in Sectionals. Though the team was the 8th seed out of 15 competitors, they won six straight games, losing to first-place Vassar by only two points. But if you think about it, Ultimate Frisbee must be to hippie Vassar kids what cynicism is to Columbians, so it was an understandable loss. Rebounding from the Vassar game, the Columbia team beat the College of New Jersey, which, as our governor knows, loses because its in New Jersey, to place second. Vassar and Columbia then headed to Regionals, beating out NYU and Princeton, which aside from outdoing Yale, are the best things a Columbia team can do.

Entering this Regional competition, the team was seeded 15th out of 16, but won over the 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 10th ranked teams to place fourth. Only the top two Regional teams go to Nationals, so the team’s impressive rise ended there for the year. But, with only three graduating members, Uptown is ready to go farther in the coming seasons. 

As senior captain Tim Pennucci put it, “The men of Uptown Local now want to work toward…winning a bid to…Nationals.  Our club has gained some attention and respect in the Region, and is now certainly feared within the Section.”

Apparently the team’s secret is a mix of Ultimate strategies imported from around the globe: an offensive system from the West Coast and a defensive system fresh from Japan. Now if Uptown could somehow incorporate our school’s cynicism into their play, they’ll become national champs.

-DJB