Dirtybirds Get the Worm in High Stakes Tournament

The girls and open Jordan ultimate frisbee teams, AKA the Dirtybirds, competed at a tournament in Arlington, VA this past weekend with the girls finishing 2nd and the open team finishing 7th. The tournament, YULA Invite, is a qualifying tournament for the High School National Invite, which Jordan has qualified for in the past.

At YULA, the girls team went in as the top seed, handedly winning all of their pool-play games on Saturday. In the quarters and semis, they beat out Jackson-Reed with a score of 12-2 and Springfield with a score of 8-7. They fought hard in the final against a local high school, H.B. Woodlawn, ultimately losing 9-7.

The open team had “what looked to be the hardest pool at the tournament,” according to head coach Michael Avila, having to win all three of their games to advance to the championship bracket on Sunday. They won multiple close matchups to advance to the quarterfinals, where they faced Chapel Hill, another Triangle team that has been in close competition with Jordan all year. After a devastating 9-11 loss to Chapel Hill, the team went on to beat Science Leadership Academy in the 7th place game to break seed.

Open team huddling mid-game against SLA

The results of this tournament put both teams in the Ultiworld Power Rankings, a list of the top 25 high school teams in both divisions. The girls are now ranked 11th, and the open team is now ranked 24th in the nation. Both teams have another tournament before the end of the season and are eagerly awaiting bids to the national invite in June.

Jordan ultimate frisbee has grown into quite the dynasty these past few years. For the last World Junior Ultimate Championships in 2024, Jordan had 5 players qualify for the team. For the tournament in 2026, Jordan had one player invited to play for the women’s team. Coached by Michael Avila, also the coach of the Carolina Flyers, a professional ultimate frisbee team, the program has continued to grow. The girls team placed 9th at HSNI 2025, and the open team placed 10th the year before. The teams hope to continue this legacy by earning bids to HSNI and performing well this year.