Chicago Invite 2012: History

In 2009 we moved out to the Naperville Polo Fields to accommodate the incredible increase of growth. We learned a lot (like don't have 6 team pools with five games), but picked up some great habits like having lined fields, organized format, sweet gear and discs, and abundant field food. That said, we learned a lot and have a great deal of things we hope to improve upon with the size and community of players we have.

Open Teams in Attendance: 44
(click for USA Ultimate format)

1. Marquette [14-12 final]
2. North Park University
3/4. - St. John's
3/4. - Winona State
5/6. - Michigan State
5/6. - Minnesota-Duluth
7/8. - Northwestern Alumni
7/8. - Hopkins HS
9/10. - Chicago bUICk Alumni
9/10. - Michigan B
11/12. - Gustavus
11/12. - North Park University Alumni
13/14. - Rose-Hulman
13/14. - North Park University B
15/16. - Wisconsin-Steven's Point
15/16. - Nebraska-Omaha
17. - Loyola-Chicago [12-05 final]
18. - Knox College
19/20. - Kalamazoo
19/20. - Lewis
21/22. - Northern Iowa
21/22. - Depaul
23/24. - Michigan Tech
23/24. - Eastern Illinois
25/26. - Milwaukee School of Engineering
25/26. - Southern Illinois
27/28. - Ohio Wesleyan
27/28. - St. Olaf B
29/30. - Illinois State
29/30. - Washington University B
31/32. - Judson
31/32. - Eastern Michigan
33. - Western Michigan [13-7 final]
34. - Notre Dame B
35/36. - Northern Michigan
35/36. - Niles North HS
37/38. - Michigan State B
37/38. - Illinois State D
39/40. - Harry D Jacobs HS
39/40. - Chicago-B
41/42. - Illinois-Chicago
41/42. - Valparaiso
43/44. - Augustana
43/44. - Bradley
45. - Wisconsin TIE

In 2010 we ran one of the most epic tournaments and the single largest event in the world that spring (122 teams). Also epic was the weather, which dived from 70° to below 30° in the 48 hours prior to the first disc being thrown. 15-25mph winds were also recorded and after a few hospital visits and seriously frozen teams, we called it quits on the second day of play. There are no final scores offered as placement could not be determined based off of just Saturday pool play. This was also the first year we held a separate HS division (see teams below).

College Open Teams in Attendance: 63
(click for USA Ultimate format)

Ball State
Wisconsin-Whitewater
Michigan State
Minnesota-Duluth
North Park
Wisconsin-Milwaukee
SUNY-Buffalo
Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Wheaton (Illinois)
Michigan-B
Missouri
St John's
St Louis
Winona State
Wisconsin-B
Queens-Kingston
Colorado-B
Eastern Illinois
Northern Iowa
Dayton
Minnesota State-Mankato
Ohio Northern
Missouri State
Minnesota-B
Illinois-B
Gustavus Adolphus
Cincinnati
Illinois State
Hope College
Kalamazoo
Loyola-Chicago
Milwaukee Engineering
Toledo
Western Michigan
Rose-Hulman
Northern Michigan
Case Western Reserve
Ohio Wesleyan
Bradley
St Thomas
Western Illinois
Oberlin
Beloit
Miami (Ohio)
Valparaiso
Eastern Michigan
Washington University-B
DePaul
Notre Dame-B
Wisconsin-TIE
DuPage
Goshen
Illinois State-D
Loras
Lake Forest
Illinois-Chicago
Michigan State-B
North Park-B
Olivet Nazarene
Southern Illinois
Denver
Wright State
Milwaukee Engineering-B

In 2011 we split our high school and college divisions in order to best serve both communities while maintaining as large an event as possible. Big wasn't the goal, but rather community and quality.

The weather, unlike the year before, was not as crazy and despite an hour and a half lightning delay in the high school division, we had sun and dry conditions.

In the high school open division, both YHB and Holy Family Catholic went undefeated for Saturday with challenges only coming from Neuqua Valley and Hopkins. Sunday was setting up to be an epic final between YHB and Catholic, but the weather delay forced YHB to leave before semis and the finals thus became a rematch between Hopkins and Catholic. Catholic took the finals relatively easily and was crowned the champion.
In the high school girls division, two teams stood; Holy Family Catholic's Omega and Geneva's Vikings. The small field meant they had already played each other once on Saturday, so the finals became a much better match-up with Geneva making the needed changes to try and defend the highly talented handling from Omega's ladies. In the end Omega was simply too talented in their disc skills despite Geneva's height and athleticism.

In the college open division, the field was split between 4 power pool groups, but it became clear that many in the field of 64 teams were over and under seeded, despite our best efforts to base them off USAU's rankings the Wednesday's before. By the time the dirt and mud had been picked off cleats for the final time Sunday afternoon 11 teams finished 10 or more spots higher than their original seed: Rose-Hulman (+24), Beloit (+22), Dayton (+19), Washington B (+17), Illinois State (+16), Illinois B (+15), Loyola (+13), Northern Michigan (+12), Anderson (+12), Eastern Illinois (+11), and Winona State (+10). Despite the upsets this created, the finals ended up being between the originally seed #1 & #2. Both teams had veteran college players, making solid decisions and very few turns. The game seemed tight until Michigan State's zone defense forced Ball State into making deep hucks after patiently swinging back and forth. Ball State, who was used to having their big guy come down with the disc, struggled in the 50/50 ball, and Michigan State was there to capitalize each and every time.
In the college women's division, Case Western and Minnesota were in a league of their own, despite Case's 3rd seed. Following pool play, Minnesota had only allowed 7 pts, while Case had only allowed 6 pts (impressive considering how many up 15mph wind pts this meant). In their cross-over, Case upset Minnesota 11-3 to take the #1 overall. On the other side of things both Wisconsin B and Missouri State went undefeated in pool play and a win by Missouri State in their cross-over gave them the #2 overall. Minnesota and Case would meet again in the finals though, and in an epic battle, Minnesota would upset Case 9-8 on universe point.
In the rest of the women's field only 10 of the other 97 games actually ever reached 13, with 22 of those being decided by 2 or less points. The parity was clear and I believe created an even better experience for each team who attended.

Open Teams In Attendance: 64
(click for USAU format)

Anderson
Ball State University
Beloit
Calvin College
Capital University
Case Western Reserve
Central Michigan
Colorado State
Dayton A
Dayton B
DePaul A
DePaul B
Drake
Eastern Illinois
Eastern Michigan
Hope
Illinois State A
Illinois State D
Illinois-Chicago
Illinois B
Iowa B
Kalamazoo
Kansas B
Kentucky
Kettering
Lake Forest
Loras
Loyola
Luther B
Marquette
Miami Ohio
Michigan State - (1st pictured above)
Michigan B
Minnesota-Duluth
Minnesota-Mankato
Minnesota B
Missouri S&T
Missouri State
North Park A
North Park B
Northern Iowa
Northern Michigan
Notre Dame B
Olivet Nazarene
Purdue A
Purdue B
Rose-Hulman
Southern Illinois
St. John's
St. Louis
St. Olaf A
St. Olaf B
Toledo
Truman State
Valparaiso
Washington B
Western Illinois
Western Michigan
Wheaton
Winona State
Wisconsin TIE
Wisconsin B
Wisconsin-Platteville
Wright State

College Womens Teams in Attendance: 33
(click for USAU format)

Beloit
Case Western Reserve
Dayton
DePaul
Drake
Illinois
Illinois State
Illinois B
Indiana
Kenyon College
Lake Forest
Loyola
Marquette
Michigan State
Michigan B
Minnesota - (1st pictured above)
Missouri State
North Park
Notre Dame B
Purdue
Southern Illinois
St. Benedict
St. Olaf College
St.Louis
Toledo
Valparaiso
Western Kentucky
Western Michigan
Wheaton
Winona State
Wisconsin B
Wisconsin-Whitewater

HS Open Teams in Attendance: 24
(click for USAU format)

Center Grove
Como Park
DeForest
Fayetteville
Geneva
H-B Woodlawn
Holy Family Catholic - (1st pictured above)
Hopkins
Jacobs
Lexington Catholic
Marist
Memorial
Minneapolis South
Monona Grove
Naperville Central
Naperville North
Neuqua Valley A
Neuqua Valley B
Neuqua Valley C
Neuqua Valley D
Neuqua Valley E
New Trier
Pritzker College Prep
Westside

HS Girls in Attendance: 5
(click for USAU format)

Geneva
Holy Family Catholic - (1st pictured above)
Jacobs HS
Memorial HS
Neuqua Valley