BY: Gwen Ambler

Candice Chan (UBC) in the finals of the Stanford Invite against UCLA -photo by Anna Nazarov

March 23, 2008

In its inaugural year, the National Championship Ultimate Series (NCUS) lay $2,000 on the line for the women's team that earned the most points after three Cultimate tournaments: Trouble in Vegas (Tiv), Stanford Invite, and Centex. British Columbia (UBC) stepped up to the challenge and made the semi-finals of TiV, finals of the Stanford Invite, and won Centex, earning a total of 2828 NCUS points. UCLA also had 2828 points by making the finals of TiV, winning the Stanford Invite, and being a semi-finalist at Centex. UBC won the tie-breaker because its tournament win was more recent. UBC and UCLA were two of twelve women's teams to attend all three NCUS tournaments this season.

Trouble in Vegas, the Stanford Invite, and Centex have been attracting the most competitive teams for years. The Stanford Invite has been a prestigious tournament since the early 1990's, drawing teams from around the country. Centex and Trouble in Vegas have been more recent additions to the competitive college circuit. In 2003, Centex TD Matt "Skip" Sewell recruited the top talent for his tournament, helping transform Centex from a tournament catering to regional teams into a tournament of the highest caliber. After starting the company Cultimate in 2006, Sewell employed a similar promotional strategy to attract quality teams from around the country to his new tournament, Trouble in Vegas.

NCUS Points	Team	Tournament Finishes
2825	British Columbia	Centex (champion) Stanford Invite (finals) Trouble in Vegas (semis)
2825	UCLA	Centex (semis) Stanford Invite (champion) Trouble in Vegas (finals)
1750	Washington	Centex (finals) Stanford Invite (semis) Trouble in Vegas (5-6 place)
1000	Ottawa	Trouble in Vegas (champion)
600	Wisconsin	Centex (semis) Trouble in Vegas (semis)
525	UC-Santa Barbara	Centex (7-8th place) Stanford Invite (semis) Trouble in Vegas (5-6 place)
125	Pittsburgh	Centex (5th place)
125	North County	Centex (6th place)
125	Oregon	Stanford Invite (5th place)
125	Texas	Stanford Invite (6th place)
100	Wake Forest	Centex (7-8th place)
100	Stanford	Stanford Invite (7th place)
100	Carleton	Stanford Invite (7th place)
100	Colorado	Trouble in Vegas (7-8 place)
100	Illinois	Trouble in Vegas (7-8 place)

With the NCUS tying the three most competitive tournaments of the season together, teams had extra incentive to attend all three. Traveling to Vegas, Palo Alto, and Austin not only gave teams the opportunity to match-up against the best teams in the nation, but it also allowed teams more chances to win points towards the NCUS pot. Additionally, attending all three tournaments gave teams extra priviledges in terms of requesting opponents and seeding input at NCUS events. As a result of all these incentives, the level of competition at these tournaments was better than ever this season.

UCLA was ahead in the race for NCUS points before Centex, but UBC surged ahead by winning the tournament. The point system rewarded teams for making the finals at multiple tournaments, essentially penalizing a team like Ottawa that only attended one tournament. Even winning Trouble in Vegas did not earn Ottawa enough points to break into the top three finishers. Not only did UBC and UCLA attend all three tournaments, but they performed consistently well at all of them. A similar claim could be made for Washington, which earned 1750 points after a 5-6th place finish, one semi-finals and one finals appearances.

UCLA's prize for second place is one free bid to any Cultimate College tournament during the 2009 season. Washington earned 50 free Discraft discs for its third place finish.

There was no reward for placing lower than third in the NCUS point system. Nonetheless, the list of teams earning points could read like the ranking system from the NUMP panel or UPA Top 25. All of these teams have now been tested against some of the toughest competition in the country and fared well enough to make it to the quarterfinals at least. That experience would be worth more than any monetary award if it helps them qualify for or win the ultimate prize: the UPA College Championships.