Wolfpack at 2023 Ultimate National Championships
What an incredible year for Portland Waldorf Ultimate. Our high school team — the mighty PWHS Wolfpack — celebrated a string of successes.
At Spaghetti Western in May — a two-day tournament in Tracy, California, and the only West Coast qualifying event for the High School National Invitational (HSNI) tournament — our Wolfpack made it all the way to the finals! Here’s the recap from the Ultiworld news site:
“Overall, the Oregon teams were fantastic at Spaghetti Westerns, with three reaching the semifinals. Portland Waldorf knocked off Summit in semifinals 9-8, and played within one of South Eugene twice. Those three Oregon teams swept all their California opponents. Portland Waldorf surges back into the top 25 at #15, in line for an HSNI bid.”
Coming out of Spaghetti Western, PWHS Wolfpack was ranked #15 in the entire country. That is no small feat, considering most public schools we compete against have hundreds (even thousands) of students and field teams with 15 - 25 athletes. PWHS Wolfpack has 12 players (on a good day!) and yet—through hard work, focus, and world-class coaching—we compete at an elite level.
PWHS Wolfpack did indeed receive that invitation to High School Nationals; we knew ahead of time that we would respectfully decline, as the event coincided with the graduation ceremony for our team’s five seniors. No matter, it is huge for a school of our size to be invited at all.
Our spring season in Portland City League ended with a clean sheet: the Wolfpack finished undefeated, even in the finals where we played without any of our seniors (away on their “solo sit” weekend in the woods).
We closed the season on another high note at the US Youth Club Championship (YCC), held in August in Colorado. This year 10 Wolfpack players were selected to represent Oregon at the 2023 YCCs:
U17 Boys - Oregon Eclipse: Finished 4th in their division, with PWS students Henry N (Class of ‘27), Hollis M (’28)
U20 Boys - Oregon Trainwreck: Finished 6th, with PWS student Bram A (’24)
U20 Mixed - Oregon Landslide: Finished 2nd (!!), with PWS students Leo R (‘23), Roman C (‘23), Rowan C (’23), Ezra C (‘23), Matteo G (’23), Jack N (‘24), Emmett M (‘24)
Special thanks to Wolfpack ultimate coaches Jake Johnson and Jaycee Jones, and to PWS Athletic Director Justice Rosales.
PWHS Wolfpack students at the 2023 YCC National Championships