Senior Ultimate Starts Strong In Seattle

Derek Safnuk(12), Rafi Siy(12), Owen PItblado(11), and Keith Chow(12) arrive at the field on a foggy morning.

From October 10th-12th, fifteen players and two coaches headed to down to Seattle, Washington to participate in the annual Seattle Invite Ultimate Tournament. While our ultimate season is in the spring, it is the middle of the high school season in the states. This gave the coaches a great opportunity to see what talent the team has for the coming season and also a chance for the boys to start playing frisbee again. The team had an outstanding tournament and beat their seed by eleven places! They were seeded 14th and finished the tournament in 3rd place.

On Friday October 10th, The team had a brief practice at the school before heading across the boarder. After arriving in the states, the group had a team dinner at Carino’s Italian restaurant. They later checked into their hotel and rested for the long a day of ultimate ahead.

The next day the boys played four back to back games of ultimate and their morning began with a game against the second seeded team from Franklin High School. The team battled hard, but nerves were evident as they dropped their first match 11-9. Fifteen minutes later they were at it again against the tenth seeded Eastside Prep School. The nerves seemed to have settled down in this game and the boys pulled away with a win. After another fifteen minute break, it was time for their next game against Ballard High School. The showed another valiant effort a got another win. The final game of the day was against a Seattle Academy team that was seeded lower than the Saints. After three games before this one, fatigue was evident in this game and boys lost the close game 13-11. The boys ended out the day with a team dinner and a good nights sleep.

The final day of the tournament proved to be even more challenging for the Saints as injuries brought their already short roster down to 13 players. The boys came out with a bang on the early and foggy morning with and 11-9 win over Roosevelt High School in the Pre-quarter finals round. The boys prevailed in the quarter final round in another close game with an 11-9 victory over Ingraham High School. The toughest game for the team was their final one against one of the top teams in the States and the number 1 seeded team in the tournament from Northwest High School in the Semi-final round. Despite being short-benched and tired from tons of ultimate before, the Saints gave an amazing performance and left everything they had on the field dropping the their final match 13-10 which left them with a third place finish.

The boys were rewarded for their hard work with celebratory burgers from the famous burger chain Five Guys Burgers and Fries. After crossing the boarder again the boys returned to the school and headed home for some well deserved rest.

Coach Jon Hayduk was very proud of the boys’ performance over the weekend and had this to say; “I’m very proud of what everyone accomplished over the weekend. We just threw 15 guys together for a fun tournament and the results we produced were unreal. In the states it is the middle of their season and the fact that we were winning games down there was amazing.”