San Diego, Calif. (October 27, 2026) – The 2026 USA Ultimate National Championships have wrapped and the winner has been crowned in each division. Ann Arbor Hybrid (mixed), Boston Brute Squad (women’s) and Raleigh Ring of Fire (men’s) have bested the competition and won their way to the top.
Spirit awards have also been presented, with the Kathy Pufahl Award going to Kirstin Johnson (San Francisco Fury), the Peter Farricker Award to Matt Gouchoe-Hanas (Ring of Fire) and Mixed Spirit and Equity Awards to Avalon Igawa (Los Angeles Lotus) and Sean Treacy (Sacramento Tower). This is the second year in a row a Tower player received the award. For the first time, the team spirit winners for each division will be awarded after the close of the tournament, allowing spirit scores from all games — from pool play through the finals — to be included in the results. The winners will be announced later this week.
Despite early weather conditions that delayed the start of the Championships, all rounds of the tournament were played over the condensed three-day event. Finishing placement at the National Championships helps to determine the final 2026 season rankings, as well as which flight each team is in for the 2027 season. Final rankings were released Monday, and the stage is set for next year’s Triple Crown Tour.
A look into the final day of competition is below.
Men’s Division
Entering this year’s Championships as the eight seed, Ring of Fire has now tied the record for the lowest seed to win the national title, matching Denver Johnny Bravo’s 2022 accomplishment. Their path to the championship started when they upset top seed Machine to win their pool and proceed directly to the quarterfinals, where they took down Minneapolis Sub Zero. They then proved they were up to the challenge of taking on this year’s world title winners San Francisco Revolver, winning that semifinal matchup 15-12 to advance to the finals.
Chicago entered the final on the back of two exciting universe point wins, winning 15-14 over New York PoNY in the quarterfinals and Portland Rhino Slam! in the semis. After coming in second last year — for the third time since 2019 — Machine arrived eager to claim their first ever championship title. But Ring of Fire got a break to go up 2-0 at the start, leaving Chicago playing from behind the rest of the game. With Ring of Fire leading 8-5 at half, Machine attempted a second half comeback but were never able to close the initial two-point lead. Ring of Fire claimed their second national title with a decisive 15-12 final score.
Stat leaders for the weekend include Victor Sauvé (Montréal Mephisto) with 17 goals, Nathan De Morgan (Sub Zero) with 25 assists and Daan De Marrée (Machine) with seven blocks.
Mixed Division
Of the three 2026 World Ultimate Club Champions competing in this year’s national event, Hybrid is the only team to have claimed a National Championship. Not only did they end the season with both the world and national titles, but 2026 also marks Ann Arbor’s third consecutive national championship. This makes Hybrid only the second mixed team to threepeat — tying Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust who pulled off the feat from 2013-15.
Coming from the six seed, San Francisco Polar Bears won their way into the final game by taking down top seed New York XIST in the semifinals. Getting off to an early start, the Polar Bears took half 8-5 and continued to hold off XIST’s attempts to mount a comeback, taking down the top seed with a 15-13 victory and heading back to the finals for the first time since 2013.
Due to the compressed event schedule, both teams headed directly from semifinals into the exciting final matchup, trading leads until the Polar Bears took the game to half 8-7. But the reigning world champs were not to be counted out, and Hybrid slowly carved out a lead, winning the game with a final score of 15-13.
Both top teams feature among the final stat leaders in the mixed division with Alexi Zalk (Polar Bears) making 22 goals, Robyn Fennig (Sacramento Tower) claiming 24 assists and Nathan Champoux (Hybrid) earning nine blocks.
Women’s Division
Defending champions Brute Squad held off Scandal in the final, handing the Washington team their only defeat of the 2026 season and ending their attempt to claim the Triple Crown. In their decisive 15-11 victory Brute Squad came out ahead early, going up 4-0 for a lead they would refuse to surrender, despite Scandal’s attempt at a comeback run with back-to-back breaks in the second half.
Scandal had looked dominant heading into the final, after a 15-9 semifinal victory over Denver Molly Brown, while Brute Squad just edged out San Francisco Fury in a close, back-and-forth matchup they won 14-13. With this triumph in the finals, Brute Squad claims their second consecutive national title — and fifth in the last 10 years — helping to solidify their place as one of the top three winningest programs in women’s club history.
Kameryn Groom (Scandal) caught 16 goals and Quincy Booth (Philadelphia Flight) threw an impressive 33 assists while Jean Tuvilla-Roberts (Northampton Starling), Shayla Harris (Fury), Kayla Blanek (Minneapolis Pop), Lily Johnson (Scandal) and Merideth Byl (San Diego Flipside) each made 8 blocks for a five-way tie to lead the weekend’s stats.
