USA Ultimate Announces Final 2015 U-23 National Team Rosters

U.S. U-23 National Teams set their sights on London

Boulder, Colo. (Dec. 15, 2014) – USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States, is excited to announce the athletes selected to represent the U.S. at the World Flying Disc Federation’s World Under 23 Ultimate Championships, set to take place in July 2015 in London.

More than 500 athletes from across the country applied to be considered for the 2015 National Teams. Of the applicants, 100 men and 104 women were selected to attend one of two tryout camps which took place in Dublin, Calif., and Orlando, Fla., in November. The tryout camps provided an opportunity for the athletes to showcase their abilities and offered the coaching staffs the chance to evaluate the tryouts and select their final rosters.

In all, 71 athletes, 35 women and 36 men, were invited to join the three national teams: mixed, open and women’s. Six alternates were also named.

"I was excited to see the level of intensity, effort and skill at tryouts," said mixed team head coach Martin Aguilera. "The quality of these three teams is a direct result of all of the work that has been put into the college division from USA Ultimate and in particular from the individual programs. The next few months will be exciting as we start to develop as a team and eventually find success in London next summer."

"The overall talent level at tryouts was very high," added women’s team head coach Mike Whitaker. "There were more players in attendance who could make positive contributions at a world championship level than there were available spots which made the final decisions very difficult. However, we believe that the team we assembled has all of the pieces we need to compete with the best in the world in London."

The World Under 23 Ultimate Championships are hosted by the World Flying Disc Federation. The first event was held in 2010. The United States first competed at the 2013 event held in Toronto, Ontario, and took home gold medals in every division – mixed, open and women’s – as well as the spirit award in the mixed division.



National Team Staff

Team Manager: Ty Krajec – Denver, Colo.



Mixed U-23 National Team

Head Coach: Martin Aguilera (Atlanta, GA)

Assistant Coaches: Alex Snyder (San Francisco, CA) & Nancy Sun (San Francisco, CA)



Nils Clauson

UCLA Sarah Edwards

Washington Khalif El-Salaam

Washington Elliott Erickson

Georgia Leah Farris

Cuesta College Clare Frantz

Kansas Samuel Greenwood

Michigan Simon Higgins

Las Positas Anna Hrovat-Staedter

Wisconsin Elijah Kerns

California-Davis Emmy Kolanz

California-Santa Cruz Sharon Lin

California Tracey Lo

Michigan Sarah Meckstroth

Minnesota Jibran Mieser

Rutgers Eli Motycka

Brown Jonathan Nethercutt

North Carolina Michael Ogren

Central Florida Lisa Pitcaithley

California-Santa Barbara Kristen Pojunis

UCLA Claire Revere

Whitman Qxhna Titcomb

Tufts Nathan White

Georgia Tech James Zuraw

North Carolina



Alternates:

Timothy Fergus

Truman State Arianne Lozano

Whitman Henry Phan

Franklin HS Lane Siedor

Georgia

Open U-23 National Team

Head Coach: Bob Krier (Denver, CO)

Assistant Coaches: Jody Avirgan (Brooklyn, NY) & Joe Durst (London, UK)



Kevin Brown

Wisconsin-Milwaukee Chuck Cao

California Travis Carpenter

Indiana Wesleyan Abe Coffin

Arkansas Hunter Corbett

California-Santa Barbara Chase Cunningham

Texas Trent Dillon

Pittsburgh Christian Johnson

California-Santa Cruz Chris Kocher

George Washington Tyler Kunsa

Pittsburgh Jeremy Langdon

Central Florida Chris LaRocque

Florida State Bobby Ley

Florida Christian Olsen

Emory Stanley Peterson

Colorado Logan Pruess

Wisconsin-Milwaukee Marcus Ranii-Dropcho

Pittsburgh Zane Rankin

Washington Dalton Smith

Texas A&M Ben Snell

North Carolina Hunter Taylor

Virginia Tech

Max Thorne

Pittsburgh

Jack Williams

North Carolina-Wilmington



Alternates:

Josue Alorro

Rutgers Tim McAllister

North Carolina

Women's U-23 National Team

Head Coach: Mike Whitaker (Boulder, CO)

Assitant Coaches: Jit Bhattacharya (San Francisco, CA) & Carolyn Matthews (Boulder, CO)



Nicola Bruce

Seattle Meeri Chang

Michigan Lisa Couper

North Carolina Megan Cousins

Colorado Caitlin Harley

Ohio State Hannah Henkin

Michigan Alika Johnston

Virginia Bethany Kaylor

Oregon Margaret Kennedy

Wisconsin Nora Landri

Washington Stephanie Lim

Stanford Lisi Lohre

Colorado College Michela Meister

Stanford Stephanie Miller

Ohio State Carolyn Normile

Pittsburgh Alex Ode

Oregon Lyra Olson

Princeton Marisa Rafter

California Chloe Rowse

Colorado College Erynn Schroeder

St Benedict Jesse Shofner

Oregon Julia Snyder

Carleton College Shira Stern

Washington Jaclyn Verzuh

Lakeside High School



Photos: Player submitted, CBMT creative and Ultiphotos

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