From the UFO
UFO World Cup Finals/World Cup Series Championship Finals event:
1-Chuck Middleton & Bling Bling
2-Pennie Mahon & Psych
3-Chuck Middleton & Bam Bam
All-Star Freestyle:
1-Chuck Middleton & Bam Bam
2-Kirby McIlveen & Flash
3-Pennie Mahon & Psych
All-Star Throw & Catch:
1-Matt DiAno & Maggie
2-Mike Hanson & Maggey
3-Pennie Mahon & Psych
2011 World Cup Series Final Standings:
1-Mike Hanson & Maggey - 325 points
2-Pennie Mahon & Psych - 324 points
3-Kirby McIlveen & Sketch - 313 points
4-Chuck Middleton & Bling Bling - 305 points
5-Chuck Middleton & Bam Bam - 279 points
6-Kirby McIlveen & Flash - 276 points
7-Al Erikson & George - 270 points
8-Gary Duke & Bayer - 256 points
9-Jonathon Offi & Aztec - 231 points
10-Kelly Miller & Rock - 230 points
11- Kim Pouls & Deejay - 212 points
Complete results online at www.ufoworldcup.org
The books are now closed on the 2011 World Cup Series, and the UFO is proud to
recognize Mike Hanson and his incredible dog MAGGEY as the 2011 UFO World Cup
Champions!
Mike and Maggey have been on fire all year. In Colorado, The CDD
club ran 10 events this year. Mike and Maggey won 8 of those events, including
the AWI Qualifier, the Skyhoundz Western Open Regional, the UFO Major and the
Quadruped. They took the Colorado
State Championship title, as
well as the championships for Throw & Catch and Freestyle there! An
unprecedented run of domination!
Elsewhere in the world-and indeed, it seemed like this young lady was
everywhere- Kirby McIlveen and her trio of super dogs were also winning
everything in sight! They tookthe Golden State Championship, Best in the West, the
D2ISC Club Championship, The
Windy City K9 Classic, the
Quadruped National Championship-winning 4 straight Quads along the way-and of
course capping it with a Skyhoundz World Championship. In addition to these,
several UFO wins put Kirby and Sketch in the lead for the World Cup for over 4
months!
In Texas another team was quietly moving up the
ranks. Pennie Mahon and Psych surprised no one when they won the Houston Major. They finished in the top 10 at
a couple of Majors, and won a local, but it wasn't until friday's TX State Championship, where they
finished 2nd place, that the math came together-Pennie and Psych had a very good
chance of taking the World Cup title. In addition to a very high finish, which
everyone knows they are capable of, they needed a couple of spoilers in the
mix-and AWI Champ Chuck Middleton, with his 2 incredible dogs in the finals,
could do just that.
In Dallas, Friday's
final Major was the Texas
State Championships, and a
celebration of the Dallas Dog and Disc club's 25th anniversary. There were many
DDD club luminaries on hand to take part in the party, and there was even cake!
Mike Hanson and Maggey won the Texas State Championships, and moved just 2
points ahead of Kirby and Sketch. For these two teams, whoever finished higher
in the finals would likely take the title. Pennie and Psych's 2nd place meant
they were in the hunt, and only needed the win and a 3 team bump between
themselves and Kirby and Mike to sneak up on the World Cup title. It was so
very, very on.
One other Championship wrapped up this weekend as well. Friday's UFO Major was
the last chance for teams in the Open T&C to earn points for their club. At the
end of the day, the 2011 UFO Club Champions are Disc Dogs in Southern California!
Defending the title with a HUGE win! The Californians had more points than the
next 2 american clubs combined!!! It should not go unnoticed, the second place
club was MAD Happy Tails-a Dutch club. This was the highest finish ever for a
non-USA club! Gefeliciteerd!!
Into the Finals
Though the sun was shining most of the weekend, the wind was present most of the
time. It was fitting that the conditions were tricky in the biggest event in the
World Cup series-no easy wins for anyone.
Saturday's Freestyle rounds were the sum total of the All-Star Freestyle
championship. At the end of the day, Chuck Middleton and Bam Bam had the
tightest freestyle in a field of very, very good Freestylers-the best in the
world, in fact. Congratulations to Chuck and Bam Bam, the 2011 UFO All Star
Freestyle Champions!
Sunday's first round of T&C was the final round before the cut to the top 10. It
was the third round of the T&C All-Star comp. The final round of T&C that day
included those All-Stars, and after 4 rounds of T&C last weekend, Matt DiAno and
Maggie defended their title and were crowned the 2011 UFO All Star T&C
Champions!
Immediately prior to the final round of T&C, it was apparent that the finish to
the event was not set. For Mike, Kirby and Pennie, and their amazing dogs, the
entire season would come down to one round of T&C, it was so amazing close. The
intrigue surrounding the math and the points was really fun and funny! In a
strategic move, Kirby scratched Flash from the final round of T&C. Kirby knew
that she not only needed to beat Mike and Maggey, she had to keep the gap
between herself with Sketch, and Pennie with Psych very close. Flash was
absolutely on fire last weekend, and was very likely to be in a position to
knock Sketch out of the final spot. The strategy was put in to benefit Kirby,
but it had other effects as well...Since we can only guess at what Flash's final
round of T&C would have been, it will always be speculation-would that final
round have been higher than Mike and Maggey's? if so, Pennie wins the title.
would it have affected the way Kirby's final round with Sketch played out? who
knows?
In the top 10 of the finals, playing late on a damp field due to an overnight
monsoon, with the wind up and swirling, the 10 best teams in the World put
everything they had into an amazing showdown. To give you an idea, even after 2
full days of competition, the lowest Catch Ratio in the top 10 was 7.4. 4 of the
teams pulled off routines at over 90%!! The level was nose-bleed high!! In the
finals T&C round, there were 15 dogs (9 Overall and 6 All-star T&C only). Of
those 15 rounds, every single round was in double digits!!
The Finals event itself was won by Chuck Middleton and Bling Bling. It was a 2
day job, and arguably one of the toughest events to win. Congrats once again to
the Champ!!
After it was all finished, a small computer glitch prevented a proper and
correct assessment of the top 10 for the series on the field, and for that, we
are definitely sorry. The top 3 were correct, and the three dogs that held
everyone's breath for the event were on top, With Kirby & Sketch in 3rd, Pennie
and Psych in 2nd, and the 2011 UFO World Cup Championship going to Mike Hanson
and Maggey!! The glitch was found, fixed and the standings online at the UFO
website are now correct.
We hope you got to follow along with the scores via the UFO website.
A tremendous thank you from the UFO goes out to the following:
Dallas Dog n Disc Club-Hosts of the 2011 UFO World Cup Final, and leading the
way in our sport for 25 years
City of Plano, Texas-for providing a great field with all the amenities close at
hand.
Discovering the World-Sponsors of the UFO World Cup series and our finals.
Purveyors of fine discs, and great folks!
Thanks to all the staff, and we know we will miss some-Jim Safford, Tom Wehrli,
Christi Campbell and Mark Wood-our great judges!
Chris Wehrli, Scorekeeping. Lisa Ward-EVERYTHING! Kelly Miller, Ron and Cyndy
and Christina Ellis, Chuck and Lisa Middleton, Simply the best staff. Thanks so
much to everyone-and the one's we missed!
They UFO also needs to thank the 100's of volunteers, and the clubs, who make
the World Cup series possible. The UFO gladly partners with the disc dog clubs
of the world-we are very aware of how important you guys are, and the role you
play in the sport. Thanks very much!
From Japan to Australia,
to Europe and the USA, the disc dog
clubs are very much the back bone of our sport. Recognize, yo!!
Finally, Thanks so much to the thousands of handlers and dogs who compete in the
World Cup series! It is inspirational and awesome to see the dogs playing disc
and having so much fun. The UFO is definitely humbled by the talent that comes
to play at the World Cup events. Your dogs are awesome!!
Sincerely,
The UFO
http://www.ufoworldcup.org
http://www.facebook.com/UFOWorldCup
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Go to the UFO website for the latest information.
www.ufoworldcup.org
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