Jonathan Ferris
Staff writer
Frisbees were flying around Carr Health last Saturday as teams from Murray and two other schools came to show their Frisbee skills.
The Murray State Ultimate Frisbee club team sponsored the tournament to raise funds for traveling to an Ultimate Tournament this spring. Eight teams participated in the double elimination tournament; six from Murray, and teams from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and Southeast Missouri State University.
The Hester team won its first game but lost its second, landing the losers bracket. They would have to win out in order to have a shot at the final game. They won their next three games and fought their way to the title game.
SIUE, who brought 10 players as opposed to Franklin’s five, utilized their abundance of subs and went undefeated to the final game.
Franklin and SIUE squared off for the title Saturday afternoon. The teams played each other to a six to four halftime score, but in the second half SIUE’s better rested team allowed them to pull away and take the final game and the tournament by a 12-6 score.
“They had a really good fresh team,” Hester senior captain James Campbell said. “They had ten people and they were really organized. We only played with five guys, giving us one sub. But they did a good job and put themselves in good position to win by staying in the winner’s bracket and got themselves some rest while we had to play five or six consecutive games.”
While a Murray team could not claim the tournament this weekend, Murray State Ultimate Frisbee Captain Ryan Curry said he was excited about how successful the tournament was.
“It was a good fundraiser with each team paying $25, we made some pretty good money,” Craft said. “I think everyone involved had fun too so it paid off both ways. I’m graduating but I hope they’ll continue this tournament every year.”
Curry said he was pleased with the teams that traveled from the other schools and was glad he got to spend time with them.
“I think the coolest part was after the tournament my team and the members of SIUE’s team went to August Moon together for dinner,” Curry said. “There’s not many sports where two teams who were just playing each other hard can go out to dinner and have fun together.”
The official Murray State team plays together on Mondays and Thursdays at 6, and try to travel to at least one tournament every semester. They plan to attend a tournament at Eastern Illinois University on April 11.
“We’d love to get more people out there playing and traveling to tournaments with us,” Curry said. “Anyone who would like to play is welcome to come join us on the intramural fields whenever they’d like.”
Murray State Ultimate Frisbee is growing and with the team holding fundraisers and competing well, Curry and Campbell said they’re excited about the team and would love to see them start competing at higher sectional and regional tournaments around the country.
As spring blooms, the ultimate games will pick up at the IM fields and all over campus. The Ultimate team will no doubt be out there and would love to have anyone who enjoys Frisbee.