‘Onionfest’ ultimate tournament a success
Last weekend over 350 ultimate players descended upon Whitman Campus for Onionfest, one of the largest co-ed tournaments in the Northwest.
Twenty-three teams competed in the tournament. Both Saturday and Sunday, Ankeny, Harper Joy Field and the soccer fields were overrun with athletes, who played ultimate from sun-up to sun-down. Whitman fielded three teams for the tournament.
The A-team performed best, going 2-2 on the Saturday. On Sunday, they won their pre-quarters match-up but lost in the quarterfinals to Aging Seattle Youth, who went on to take second in the tournament.
Northfield, a team composed mainly of Carleton ultimate alumni living in Seattle, won the tournament for the seventh time in eight years.
Onionfest is a co-ed tournament, meaning that all teams in the tournament must have both male and female athletes. Throughout the game, each team must have the same proportion of males and females on the field as the opposing side. Usually, two or three females will be on each team’s seven-player line-up.
“It was fun to play a sport with girls, to get to know them on the field,” said Junior Jay Davidson, who played on the B-team. “It’s less intense than when you play at all-guy tournaments.”
Sophomore Kevin Booth, who watched the event, was more skeptical. “It was exciting to watch guys and girls competing together, but it also accentuated male dominance and arrogance because of where the Frisbee went,” said Booth. “Some girls would be wide open, and guys wouldn’t even look at them.”
Whitman Sweets’ Captain Micah Jarnot embraced the mixed style of play. “Onionfest strikes a good balance between competitive Frisbee and a low-key atmosphere,” said Jarnot. “Overall, it was great. It was the best tournament I have played been part of. The weather was perfect.”
“The competitive level can be high,” said Jarnot. “Some of the best players in the world come to Onionfest.”
This included Joshua Ziperstein, an alumni of Brown University’s ultimate team, and winner of the 2005 UPA Callahan Award, which honors the MVP of college ultimate. Ziperstein played on Northfield, which won the tournament.
Whitman Sweets’ co-captains Jarnot and Jonathan Loeffler organized the event. They were responsible not only for getting the teams to compete, but also for organizing practical necessities of the tournament.
“You have to make sure you have field-food, enough water for all the teams, Taco truck for the last day, and a party for all the players,” said Jarnot. “It took a lot of delegation to the rest of the team to get everything done. It was really a team effort.”
Not only did ultimate players work to make the event a success, but college employees also made significant contributions.
“The grass was in great shape,” said Davidson. “The maintenance people really did a great job.”
Booth highlighted a different side of the tournament. “The rush to free Taco-Truck created a nice end to the hard day—everyone needed a nice big burrito. It was like watching wildebeests gather around a watering hole.”
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