Sophomore Brian Babbitt and freshman Kali Pace-Graczyk like to think that they have started something here at Eau Claire. The two collaborated this fall to turn their intramural ultimate frisbee team into a recreational sport club. By next fall, the team will become an official club sport, supported by university funding.

Babbitt said as many as 40 people have attended a practice and showed interest, but the team has about 10 committed players.

“Most of us were new to the sport,” Babbitt said. “I’m proud of how the team improved from one tournament to the next.”

The team began its season on the weekend of April 7, when it competed in the 25-team Midwestern Classic in Madison. It lost every game in the first day round-robin that included four other teams. The next day, the team lost its only two games, which gave the team an 0-6 mark after its first official tournament.

Stevens Point hosted the second tournament of the year on April 14. The team finished fourth out of seven teams.

Improvement was seen by the third and final tournament when the College Sectionals were played in Madison on April 20 to 22. The team again was put into round-robin play against three other teams.

The team faced the third-ranked team in the country in the Madison Hodags in its first game. The Eau Claire team only could manage three points in the race to 13.

The next game was against Michigan Tech.

“We were pretty evenly matched,” Babbitt said.

Eau Claire ended up winning in sudden death 11-10. The game was forced to be played in sudden death due to time constraints. The team won its last game against Whitewater, 10-9, in the same sudden death fashion.

Eau Claire was seeded second, recording a 2-1 mark after the first day of pool play. On the second day, Lawrence won 15-11. An Eau Claire win would have automatically qualified the team for the second round regionals.

Instead, Eau Claire was put into a secondary bracket where it knocked off Whitewater for the second time of the season, 15-12. The win put the team in the game to decide the last spot for regionals from its section. Eau Claire faced Marquette, which proved to be too much, edging Eau Claire, 13-9.

“While we didn’t make the second round, we played so much better at the last tournament,” Babbitt said. “The experience we gained was huge and we are already looking forward to next year.”

Pace-Graczyk said she was also more than pleased with the team’s performance for the season.

“Our primary focus of the game was to have fun,” she said. “We progressed from game to game, and to come one game away from regionals showed how much we actually improved.”

There will be tournaments held the remainder of the school year and throughout the summer. The team is going to try to fit in one last tournament in Whitewater the weekend before finals.

“It’s almost a year-round sport,” Pace-Graczyk said. “It depends on your team and how often you want to play. It’s up to the team if they want to play in tournaments this summer.”