This past weekend, the Claremont Braineaters club Ultimate Frisbee team won the Presidents Day Qualifier in San Diego, beating Arizona in the championship game on Sunday. The Brains went undefeated in the tournament held on UCSD’s campus, winning three games on both Saturday and Sunday.

The Brains started out strong on Saturday, beating the UCSD C team 15-7. The second game proved to be a little tougher for the Brains, as they were down to Azusa Pacific 6-10 at one point in the game, but they came back to win 15-12. The final game on Saturday came down to the wire as Santa Clara came back to tie things up at 13 after being down the entire game, but the Brains held on for the win as Logan Schumaker PO ’11 threw a hammer to Devin Drewry PO ’13 for the winning point.

Despite missing some key players, the Brains started the second day of the tournament with a 15-7 win over rival UCSB, albeit their B team, in the quarterfinals. The Brains kept the momentum rolling, easily beating Occidental in the semifinal game 15-8. The championship game was never in doubt, and the Brains went on to easily beat the Arizona Sunburn 15-7.

According to co-captain Tommy Li PO ’12, “This weekend, our superstars took over the game on offense … Our offense was anchored by vets Riley MacPhee [PO ’11] and Logan Schumaker, who kept the disc moving the whole tournament.”

Claremont also had great offensive performances from some of the Brains’ other established stars, including Drewry and Markham Shofner PO ’11. Li made it clear, however, that “our defense and our sideline intensity won us this tournament. We had everyone on the sideline choose someone on the field to talk to every D point, every game. When all of our defenders are constantly getting encouragement and information from our sidelines, we are bound to get a D[efensive stop].”

Li also said he was impressed with the enthusiasm of the rookies, many of whom played their first collegiate minutes during this tournament. Li and McPhee became captains over winter break, joining Schumaker as co-captains for the spring term.

The Brains’ new leadership group—the Brain Trust, if you will—started off the semester with a lot of enthusiasm and paid a lot of attention to bringing the team closer together. They accomplished this by holding a wide range of social functions outside of practice: the Brains have team dinner after every practice, and a couple of weeks ago they held a Magic: The Gathering draft and tournament.

This team-building has also bred competition. In Li’s opinion, “The thing is ... doing all these things, our team has organically become more competitive. We see intensity every practice, people are improving every day, and it’s been really fun.”

Last weekend’s victory came at a perfect time for the Brains and should help build momentum for the next tournament along with the rest of the season.

“Winning this tournament was a great reflection of what our team is about: playing hard, enjoying the sport, and having a great group of people to support you,” Li said.

By coming out on top at the tournament, the Braineaters qualified for the Presidents Day Classic later this month. The competition will be much tougher at this tournament, which is also held at UCSD, but hopefully the Brains will be up to the challenge.