Churchill High School Ultimate Team
Eugene, Oregon 97402
Learn about the history of our team.
2001/2002
Written by: Dave Dreher (current DiscNW Coordinator but past OR coach & organizer)
It’s pretty safe to say that nothing “organized” exclusively for high school teams existed before 2002. My experience when I got to Corvallis in 2001 was there was a team in Corvallis’ summer league made up largely of Philomath High School cross country runners, there were a handful of players from Corvallis High School competing on various teams in summer league, and an even smaller handful from Crescent Valley High School (Ben Wiggins had just graduated and was a frosh at UofO; Seth Wiggins was “practicing” with the Beavers) students playing ultimate. I think things in Eugene were very similar. Miraculously, one meeting in the upstairs of Headlines Café between 3 students (James Lee - CVHS, Shane Rubenfeld - CHS, and Nate Sexton - PHS) and 3 coaches (Jones Oliver, Jay Sexton, and Dave Dreher) who had recently received a $500 UPA Innovation Grant to fund OHSUC and part of the expenses for taking a team to Reign were all it took to get things rolling in Corvallis. Amazing how much has happened in the few short years since then!
1st Annual Oregon HS Ultimate Classic (May 17/18,2002) at Philomath High School in Philomath, OR run by Dave Dreher. Philomath HS beat Corvallis High School in the finals. Notably, this was the first tournament played by many of the teams including Corvallis High School, Crescent Valley High School, and Sheldon High School (led by Jeremy Washburn). Churchill said they were coming but bailed at the last minute. South Eugene High School did not even have a team; Breeze Strout and Danny Kalmen did pick up with one of the two Sheldon teams that competed. I have some seriously funny photos of this tournament kicking around. (From Luke: we are looking to get these, and once we do they will be linked from here)
This also marked the first year that OR teams made the trip to Seattle for Spring Reign. Jay Sexton, Jones Oliver, and Dave Dreher coached a team of kids from Corvallis High School, Crescent Valley, and Philomath High School (and Breeze who was homeschooling in those days) to a loss in the semifinals to Yale Secondary. The group of players on this team was absolutely phenomenal! I’ve never coached a better group and probably never will again. Many of them are now solid players or leaders on their respective college teams. Jones, Jay, and I have great photos of this tourney. (From Luke: we are looking to get these, and once we do they will be linked from here)
Two sites have some of this information:
OHSUC Ultilinks Site - http://www.ultilinks.com/tournaments/ORStateJuniors/
WVJU Home Site - http://home.comcast.net/~dmdreher/oregonjuniorsultimate.htm
2002/2003
Written by: Dave Dreher (current DiscNW Coordinator but past OR coach & organizer) - updated: by Jones Oliver
The first ever Fall Cold Fusion was held in 2002. Tribe made it to the finals against MOHO, who eventually took the tournament.
2nd Annual Oregon HS Ultimate Classic (May 17/18,2003) at Philomath High School in Philomath, OR run by Jay Sexton (Philomath High School coach) and Jones Oliver (Crescent Valley High School Coach) because Dave Dreher got the call to be in Alabama for “training” as TD for the 2004 UPA HS Championship at the last minute. Ten teams participated and we recognized two "champions". "Tournament" champion: Salami Tsunami from California over Yale Secondary. "Oregon High School" champion: Philomath HS repeated as state champs over South Eugene High School. Notably, this was the first time Crescent Valley HS played under the moniker “Tribe”. Scobel Wiggins got some great shots of this tournament. I have them somewhere, but so does she. A team of mainly CV and a few Corvallis High School players returned to Spring Reign (this time in Burlington, WA for the first time) and made it to the quarter finals where they lost to Yale Secondary. South Eugene and Sheldon made their first trips to Reign this year as well.
Two sites have some of this information:
OHSUC Ultilinks Site - http://www.ultilinks.com/tournaments/ORStateJuniors/
WVJU Home Site - http://home.comcast.net/~dmdreher/oregonjuniorsultimate.htm