By Nolan Levenson

Days 1 & 2: Friday, March 11- Saturday, the 12The Macalester Blue Monkeys depart from Macalester for Georgia in five cars. Splitting up the driving, the cars make their way down to St. Simons Island without stopping for the night, determined to reach their final destination. A few stops at Waffle House re-energized the team whenever they needed a break.

Day 3: Sunday, March 13

After recuperating from the long drive, the Monkeys kicked off their second day in Georgia with a couple hours of practice. Fortunately, their search for a proper frisbee field was brief, as it did not take the monkeys long to realize that their house overlooked an ideal field for such a practice. Except for the ravenous hordes of gnats.

Day 4: Monday, March 14

Many participated in the High Tide hat tournament, where you are randomly placed on a team with other players from around the country. It is a great experience and opportunity to meet new players of all abilities. In the evening, before going to sleep, we realized that we did not have games until 5 p.m. the following day.

Day 5: Tuesday, March 15

Since we did not have games earlier in the day, we decided to go support the Snatchers during their games. We sat on the sidelines and cheered, soaked in the sun, and danced a bit with the Snatchers as they won all three of their games.

Our first day of pool play began with a game against Amherst College. While at first we were worried that this would be a tough team to play, the Amherst guys were very chill. We lost a hard fought battle, but were able to bounce back to beat Montclair in the next game. Unfortunately, we ended the day playing the team with the worst spirit all tournament, Bentley. We played tired and were unable to pull off a win.

Day 6: Wednesday, March 16

After a tough loss to the University of New Hampshire, the Blue Monkeys continued on to play Marquette University. The game began with some tough points, falling behind 1-6. However, we were not discouraged, playing hard to make up the loss. After going on a 10-2 run, the Monkeys were in great shape to win the game. But Marquette fought back, bringing the game to universe point. As junior captain Will “Deathpimp” Hughes ’12 grabbed the perfect disc tossed by senior captain Lloyd “Lancelot” Vogel ’11 into the endzone to win the game 13-12, the sideline stormed the field. There was much rejoicing as this was one of the most epic wins in Monkey history. The last game of the night was against Wooster College and it proved to be another close match. After some very intense points, Wooster won in a 13-11 game.

Day 7: Thursday, March 17

For the first time all tournament, the Monkeys had to wake up before 7 a.m., which took a toll on the team. Playing a game against a relatively strong SMUT (Saint Mary’s in Maryland), the Monkeys were eliminated from the tournament, but were still in strong spirits from the strong play the previous days. The team took group photos, grabbed some delicious BBQ for lunch, and headed back to the fields to watch the Purse Snatchers make a playoff push. The girls, unfortunately, were eliminated as well. Instead of watching more competitive frisbee, the team decided to head to the beach for some napping, cricket, and soccer. Later, the Monkeys made dinner for all while enjoying St. Patrick’s Day with a party on the beach at night with a wide variety of other schools.

Days 8-10: Friday, March 18- Sunday March 20

After a tough tournament, the team relaxed all of Friday on the beach with the Snatchers, enjoying the final day of excellent weather before heading back to Minnesota. The following day, we cleaned up the house and headed home. Cold, snow, and homework seemed so much less appealing than sitting out in the sun on a beach and swimming in the ocean. But, in the end, all were happy to return home.