In a strong showing at nationals the club disc golf team at NC State secured team national championships with its first and second flight, while placing 10th with its championship flight team.
Taking place in Augusta, South Carolina, the national championships were a three-day event from April 11 to April 14 that placed the 35 best teams in the U.S. against each other. Senior Andrew Horne knew the team had a strong returning group, but wanted to focus on growing the sport this year as well.
“We wanted to rebuild from a really strong team we had last year,” Horne said. “As we knew we had a good middle group of people, but most importantly we wanted to grow the club for years to come.”
The club currently has 25 members and has been steadily growing the last couple of years. A little under half the club plays competitively, with three teams of four players each competing in tournaments. The rest of the club consists of recreational players who will become the future of the club.
The Wolfpack had qualified for nationals early in the season when it placed second behind Mississippi State in the first tournament of the year. Mainly facing off against teams in the southeast United States, rivalries have started to form between the Pack and other teams close by.
“We always like to beat Liberty University; they’re one of our rivals,” Horne said. “UNC-Charlotte is another one that we always like to compete with and Clemson and East Carolina.”
All these teams were present at the national championships where the Wolfpack’s championship flight team finished two spots behind Clemson and tied for 10th place with ECU. Overall there were 35 teams present in the championship flight tournament.
The first flight team, which was captained by senior Tyler Sturgill used its experience with the North Carolina woods to secure its national championship over the other 19 teams present in their tournament.
Even with the lower amount of teams, it wasn’t easy for the first flight as it was competing against an experienced Iowa State squad for the top spot.
“[Iowa State] was more experienced in the open field courses,” Sturgill said. “But I told the team ‘We just need to keep it close, then on the last day we’ll play Moody Woods, which is extremely tight and extremely technical and I know that we’re a better woods team.’ So we did exactly what we needed to Friday and then Saturday we birdied the second hole, they parred, and we ended up running away with it from there.”
The first flight team actually ended up scoring better than the championship flight team on the Moody Woods course the last day, which is a testament to how well it shot on the course.
The Wolfpack snuck by the competition in the second flight and secured a national championship by two strokes. Most schools do not have enough members to have a third competitive team though, so there were only six other teams to compete against.
Not only did the Pack secure a team national championship in second flight, but junior Caleb Huston, won an individual national championship for second flight as well.
Overall, the Disc Golf Club at NC State came home with three national championships and memories that will last a lifetime.
