Big Muckamuck: Oregon Ego Preview

16 college alumni teams representing the best Open and Women’s teams from the past decade square off for the title of the best of the best. The Big Muckamuck will find the likes of the Hodags, CUT, Superfly and Burning Skirts competing on July 2nd-3rd at the annual Potlatch tournament in Redmond, WA. As part of our ongoing coverage of the event, Skyd caught up with Jackson Kelsy of Oregon to find out more about what EGO has in store for the Muckamuck.

Roster:

Name – Grad Year – Current/Recent Club Team
Topher Davis – 2013 – Knife Fight
Cody Bjorklund – 2011 – Rhino
Josh Wardle – 2011 – Clapham, Rhino
Joe Condon – 2010 – Rhino
Eli Janin – 2010 – American BBQ
Jackson Kelsay – 2010 – Rhino
Kevin Minderhout – 2010 – N/A
Steve Kenton – 2009 – Rhino
Ted Werbel – 2009 – Rhino, Outlaw, Voodoo
Max Calabro – 2008 – Rhino
Adrian King – 2008 – Rhino
Eric Greenwood – 2008 – Revolver
Gavin Mckibben – 2008 – Swagger
Steven Murschel – 2008 – Infuego
Spencer Wallis – 2008 – Sockeye
Dave Wozniak – 2008 – Rhino
Cody Cassidy – 2007 – Boost Mobile
Ben Parrell – 2005 – N/A
Justin Grishkin – 2004 – Rhino
Sean Peterson – 2004 – N/A
Justin Valasek – 2004 – N/A
Will Cooper -2003 – N/A
Dylan Darling – 2003 – N/A

Briefly share the history of your school’s Ultimate program. How it started/developed into a competitive program.

I don’t know exactly who started the team, but there was a guy by the name of Henry Callahan who certainly put Oregon Ultimate on the map. He was known for is fiery, intense, man to man defense. He was tragically murdered during a robbery in 1982. To honor his legacy, the ultimate world decided to award the best men’s and women’s player with the Callahan trophy. After his time at Oregon, teams across the country were forced to take Oregon as team you can just walk past. The team won the College national Championship in 1992. In the early 2000s names like Josh Greenough, Ben Wiggins, and Seth Wiggins brought Oregon back to the national spotlight with a semis appearance in 2001 and a Finalist in 2003. Oregon has appeared at nationals 5 times in the last 10 years, which is no easy feat considering the perennial powerhouses of Stanford, California, UBC, and Washington who all came the same regions

What are some of your school’s biggest victories/games in the past decade?

The victory over Stanford in the 2003 Regional championship game was huge as there was only one bid and Stanford had already purchased their plane tickets to nationals for that year. Another big victory was again over Stanford at regionals in the 2006 Regional championship game. I believe of the 26 players on our team 17 of them were first year college players, and we got smoked earlier in the year when we played Stanford. The 2010 pre series campaign was certainly the best in Oregon’s history, but unfortunately we didn’t come to play at nationals.

Who on your roster will be making some of the big plays at the BM?

Look for big throws from Eli Janin (surprise), speed from 5’6” Eric Greenwood, hard work from Spencer Wallis, Big ups from Jackson Kelsay, Banana hands from Adrian “The Bruce” King, the heaviest player in Ultimate in Cody Bjorklund, lots and lots of sucking from Topher Davis, and the tallest head in all of ultimate in Steve “Gameday” Kenton.

Which match-ups are your team most looking forward to?

Colorado will certainly be a fun team to play. I think they have every big receiver in the game today, with the trio of Mac, Beau, and Martin. Also, that Adam Simon guy has some excellent throws. I really hope we get to play Stanford because they are a bunch of nerds and have been our rival as long as I can remember. I mean does anyone that doesn’t go to Stanford, or play at Stanford ever want Stanford to win at anything? I didn’t think so.  Look for Oregon to have the best heckles, sick-daddiest throws, and most fun of all teams competing.

Why is your team going to win the BM?

Oregon is going to win the BM because #1 we have the most fun. #2 Cody Bjorklund is hungry for more pizza and other things that are in flight and circular #3 we got style #4 Spencer Wallis’ body.