The Michigan women's ultimate frisbee team won the prestigious Spring Phling this weekend at Penn State University. The 18-member team went undefeated in both round-robin and tournament play, finally dispatching Bucknell 12-8 in the championship game.

It was a tournament that in more than one way summed up the Ultimate experience. After enduring a cramped hotel stay miles from the tournament site, and suffering fromApril snow and wind that would constantly send their disc onto campus roads, the women of Flywheel were still able to pick up and leave as winners.

Traditionally, colleges don't use their school mascot as their Ultimate Frisbee team mascot, and the Michigan club Flywheels are no different.

"All of the Ann Arbor ultimate frisbee team names came from the car industry," said Public Health grad student Jess Huff, who has competed with the team for five years.

"The women's city team call themselves 'Clutch,' so we decided to call ourselves either Platinum or Flywheel. We voted on Flywheel. Flywheels are the part of the car that keeps it running."

Whatever a flywheel is, it seems fitting for an Ultimate team, which throws an object shaped like a wheel that flies through the air. As easy as that may seem, first-time Ultimate players can often be weeded out in a hurry.

"I was absolutely terrible when I started playing this sport," said Huff, who had only played once in her life before joining the team. "But the great thing about this team is that it's the most supportive environment I can imagine."

The team's support group is now starting to multiply. This year marked the first time that the club was split into 'A' and 'B' teams. For years the club had been stretching its resources just to find members, but it has to turn people away.

"Five years ago, when I started playing, there really wasn't a college team," Huff said. "Most of the time, when we went to tournaments, we ended up taking city players with us who weren't college students, and we could not win a single game."

The team has improved dramatically since then. This weekend's victory at Spring Phling was the team's second consecutive tournament victory; the club took home first place in the South Bend Invitational earlier this season. Now their team's goals are turned toward the national tournament in Spokane, Wash.

"Realistically, if we play as well as we possibly can, under the best situations, I really think we can finish in top eight in the nation at Nationals," Huff said.