VC Team Spotlight: University of Texas Melee (& Women's Centex)
What can we say about this team - this season especially - other than Hook 'em Horns!! UT at Austin's top women's team is rocking it, with another strong performance bringing home the gold at Women's Centex this past weekend, the team's home tournament run in collaboration with Without Limits Ultimate.
We admit, we're a bit biased with our love for Melee and their home fields, the Charles Alan Wright Fields at the Berry M. Whitaker Sports Complex at the University of Austin. The sports complex is, simply put, sick... the benefits of being at a school with an athletic's program budget north of $160,000,000 perhaps? Yes, that many zeros.
Fun fact: VC's Adriana Withers met her much-later-to-be wife on those fields in 2003 (VC was merchandising the UPA College Championships while her wife was running medical support), and still lives part-time only about 10 minutes away.
What's more, VC's Sponsorship Manager and the founder of Without Limits, Michelle Ng, is also a Melee alumni.
Oh, and did we mention, it's usually like 80 degrees, sunny and a short drive from one of the hottest music festivals in the world, South by Southwest, going on at the same time?
Read Ultiworld's Women's Centex Preview article here.
Enough about Centex... back to Melee.
From Ultiworld's write-up, "There is no question that #2 Texas Melee is having a tremendous season, and they look like a shoe-in to make semis at Nationals this year. In both of their tournaments in 2017, Presidents’ Day & Stanford Invite, Melee has made the final. But both times they came up short."
Melee's record took a sharp turn to the winning side this past weekend at Centex, where they beat Ohio State's Fever to win the tournament.
From Texas Melee
Women's College Centex is one of the highlights of the spring college season. The University of Texas women's program has been a ong-term partner of both VC and Without Limits. TD Sydney Overman said, "We love how much Vicious Circle promotes Without Limits- in their gear, banners, and general attitude towards women's ultimate. One of the primary Centex goals each year is to grow college women's ultimate across the United States, and I know that Without Limits does a huge, huge job in helping us achieve that mission." Captains Laura Gerencser and Julia Schmaltz said, "VC always makes sure we look good! We decided to change our jersey design this year and we were initially worried about not being able to include our old emblem (the circle longhorn), but VC worked with us extensively to come up with a brand new, classic and clean new style jersey. We love them!"
Melee is deeply invested in the growth and development of college women's ultimate and that is clearly reflected in their partnerships with Without Limits and VC. We love working with Melee and we love their clean designs.
This year's Centex was extra special because of the nice weather and brand new fields, especially given the challenges over the past couple of seasons. Overman, who is a senior, said, "When it comes to running Centex, pray for the best but plan for the worst. Seriously. After the past two years, we were thankful for a sunny, minimal-wind Centex at the newly renovated UT IM fields. If that's not the formula for a successful victory-lap Centex then I don't know what is!" The captains reflected, "Because of years past, we have to say our favorite thing about Centex this year was the beautiful weather and brand new facility. Centex hasn't always had the best conditions, so we were very happy to be able to offer a very smooth, good condition tournament to teams that have been so loyal despite the past conditions." The challenges of the past two seasons made this year even sweeter.
Texas has had a dominant regular season thus far and now they begin preparations for the Series. The captains said, "The next thing on the horizon for us is regionals and we couldn't be happier that it will be back here in Austin! We are very much looking forward to hosting the south central teams (with a possible 4 bids)!"
Follow the team's journey on twitter at @txmelee