Kailey Rugani

Year	Sophomore
Major	Math
Hometown	Bend, Oregon
Position	Hybrid

How did you start playing ultimate?

I always wanted to play in high school so I came out in the fall and loved the team from the beginning!

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Hmmm..layout practice, Niagara Falls at midnight, sectionals movie time, or really any time bananagrams is involved

What's your ideal playing weather?

No wind but a little chilly

Favorite tournament-rout meal and/or car game

Ice cream from Penn State Creamery at sectionals

Audi Lin

Year	Freshman
Major	Computer Science
Hometown	Lexington, MA
Position	Handler

How did you start playing ultimate?

In my senior year of high school, I was peer-pressured by some of my friends to play. Although I didn't like the running part, it was so much fun and I stuck with it.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Halloweekend ;)

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Flick

What's your ideal playing weather?

Partly cloudy with a slight breeze and no humidity

Tippi Li

Year	Freshman
Major	Fine Art
Hometown	Beijing
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

I signed up for frisbee as an elective in high school

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Horror movie night watching Talk To Me with the Mellons 🫣 Love everybody’s commentary and reactions

Favorite tournament-route meal?

Definitely Cracker Barrel’s!!!

What's your ideal playing weather?

7-9 at night, when there’s no sun and little wind

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

Sam’s legs!!!🫢

Victoria Chen

Year	Junior
Major	Statistics and Machine Learning
Hometown	Basking Ridge, NJ
Position	Hybrid

How did you start playing ultimate?

A bunch of my friends who played on my high school team got me to try ultimate my senior spring and I've been playing ever since!

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Off-hand throws

What's your ideal playing weather?

60-70 degrees, sunny, minimal wind on soft grass

Manaen Hu

Year	Sophomore
Major	Mechanical Engineering
Hometown	Shenzhen, China
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

Karen mentioned it during buggy practice, and Monica said it was fun, so I decided to give it a try.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Those strong Christmas vibes at practices! Snowing, music...

Favorite throw or move on the field?

(Watching others and, hopefully, me in future?) Knocking the disc out!

What's your ideal playing weather?

No sun, no rain.

Violet Chu

Year	Fourth Year
Major	Architecture and Creative Writing
Hometown	Wynnewood, PA
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

My PE teacher told me that I should try out for ultimate and I decided to when I came to CMU. Loved the sport and community from the very start and stayed ever since :)

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Snowy practices where we all just goof around at the end of it and sled around on frisbees.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

High release backhand.

Favorite tournament-route meal>

Bibibop

What's your ideal playing weather?

Sunny but cool

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

Amanda’s eyes because she has perfect vision and I won’t have to deal with my contacts drying out.

Sam Leong

Year	Freshman
Major	Mechanical Engineering
Hometown	Los Altos, CA
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

Junior year a teacher at my high school who coaches a local adult women's club team was trying to start a school team. I went to my first tournament after playing for a month (open division, with 9 people, only 2 of which had played in a real game before...), and promptly decided that frisbee was more fun than soccer (despite getting dunked on by the state champs). Since my school's team decided not to play competitively, I also played for various local school and regional teams my senior year, and the Bay Area YCC team over the summer.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Spending hours goofing around after IMs with everyone that got dragged into playing. My abs hurt from laughing so hard.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

"running deep :) or a perfectly timed first cut under second cut deep with a bonus perfectly placed OI throw to the back cone"

Favorite tournament-route meal?

"This is more of an at tournament ""meal"" but if you take a bite of apple, then a bite of pickle, and another bite of apple, while imagining an apple salad with vinaigrette dressing, it is one of the most delicious things after a long hot point. also welches"

Do you have any ultimate-given nicknames? What's the story behind it?

apparently sammich I guess? I dropped a sandwich while driving to Buffalo and my name is Sam ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What's your ideal playing weather?

65, no wind, a tad overcast, grass that doesn't make me sneeze

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

Karen's sticky fingers

Eunbean Lee

Year	Freshman
Major	Cognitive Science
Hometown	Seoul, South Korea
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

When I was in high school, a senior on the ultimate team rounded up a bunch of freshmen who didn't have a spring sport and dropped us off at the JV girls frisbee team tryouts–I've been playing frisbee since.

What's your ideal playing weather?

Breezy, dry weather where it's just cloudy enough you don't get blinded by the sun.

Maddie Philhower

Year	Freshman
Major	Design
Hometown	Oakland, CA
Position	Cutter

Karen Li

Year	Senior
Major	ECE
Hometown	Collegeville, PA
Position	D-Line Handler

How did you start playing ultimate?

I was convinced by a friend to attend a practice, loved the vibes, and joined the Mellons!

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Forehand

What's your ideal playing weather?

60 degrees, partly cloudy, no wind.

What do you do when you're not playing ultimate?

Reading, geeking out about the newest tech gadget, hiking, or something else outdoors!

Go-to snack?

Fruit is yummy.

What's your Noodlehead order?

Shrimp pad thai

KJ Suggs

Year	Freshman
Major	Fine Art
Hometown	Philadelphia, PA
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

I started playing ultimate because the Money Mellons had a table during Orientation, and it seemed cool.

What's your ideal playing weather?

Sunny, with no wind.

Emily Ma

Year	Junior
Major	Math
Hometown	Poughkeepsie, NY
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

I played a little bit of ultimate for fun throughout high school and decided to go to some of the Mellons practices in my freshman fall semester where the supportive energy from the team convinced me to play.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Holding, painting, and camping out at the Fence during finals week :)

Favorite throw or move on the field?

IO backhand

Favorite tournament-route meal and/or car game?

Cheez-its, chicken nuggets, and clementines

What's your ideal playing weather?

55ish degrees with sun and little wind

Ella Maxwell

Year	Junior
Major	Architecture & Hispanic Studies
Hometown	College Station, Texas
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

I played a little bit of unofficial Ultimate with my friends in High School but only really started learning Freshman year of College.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Buzzing my hair for the first time because we made natties.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

A deep cut for Bella's flick huck.

Favorite tournament-route meal?

Sheetz for sure.

What's your ideal playing weather?

Lightly rainy but on the warmer side

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

I still want Vic's legs.

What do you do when you're not playing ultimate?

I'm architecturing (that's a verb, right?) I also love songwriting

Chen Ye

Year	Sophomore
Major	Decision Science
Hometown	Harbin, China
Position	Cutter

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

The day when we finally had our layout practice in the rain, with everyone flopping into puddles on the ground with rain pouring throughout the entire practice. Everyone was dripping wet and freezing but we had so much fun.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

flick oi

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

need Vic's legs so I can cut better

Dorie Yue

Year	Freshman
Major	Undecided
Hometown	Qingdao, China
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

Had a little frisbee fun in high school and fell in love with it. Real stuffs start from college.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Snowy practice with Winter scene musics

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Knock down frisbee (not when trying to catch it...)

Favorite tournament-route meal?

Sandwich in car on a totally dark highway at night

Michelle Bank

Year	Freshman
Major	Mathematics
Hometown	Ellicott City, MD
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

I was brought over from running club and thought it was super fun!

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

First time going deep and catching the disc at extinction romp 🙀

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Backhand OI 😍😍😍

Favorite tournament-route meal?

CRACKER BARREL!!!!!! 🙀🙀🙀

What's your ideal playing weather?

54 degrees and slightly cloudy

Alyssa Yang

Year	Freshman
Major	Chemistry
Hometown	Plainsboro, New Jersey
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

I quit tennis, and had played a bit of ultimate, so I went to some O week events and they were really fun! I was too scared to join in high school, so I took this as a chance to do something I had really been wanting to do, and I ended up loving the sport and the people.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Extinction Romp! I wasn't used to playing for so long and my legs were extra sore from hitting leg day with Ella earlier in the week. It was fun to push through and grind some ultimate and also enjoy the sport with my teammates.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

OI backhand

Favorite tournament-route meal?

~food

Favorite car game?

Not a favorite, but I am anti-cow game after it resulted in a 40 minute detour

Do you have any ultimate-given nicknames? What's the story behind it?

Stevieeeeeeee!

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

Vic's legs cause they're ~huge~ and will make me cut like a god, plus I'm already used to doing pt so it's no problem.

Lucy Gunther

Year	Sophomore
Major	Mechanical Engineering
Hometown	Somerville, MA
Position	Hybrid

How did you start playing ultimate?

I joined my high school team freshman year after quitting soccer and I haven't stopped since

Favorite tournament-route meal and/or car game?

gummy worms

Do you have any ultimate-given nicknames? What's the story behind it?

GOOSE

What's your ideal playing weather?

60s and cloudy (I burn easily)

Amanda Koh

Year	Senior
Major	Computer Science
Hometown	Singapore
Position	O-line Handler

How did you start playing ultimate?

I saw that there was a team at CMU that was open to people with all levels of experience, and I've always wanted to try playing it, so I joined the first few practices and stayed since then.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Winning regionals last year / going to nationals!!

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Upline to a backhand huck

Favorite car game?

Contact!

Marissa Ma

Year	Sophomore
Major	Biology
Hometown	Lexington, MA
Position	Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

A friend and I decided to go to a scrimmage together, both having zero frisbee experience, and it was overwhelming to say the least, but I instantly loved the community and how welcoming they were, so I joined the Mellons!

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

Getting food for 20+ people during natties at Costco and deciding to use the self checkout, then reaching the weight limit with only two items left. The Costco employee said she had never seen this happen before.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Backhand huck.

What's your ideal playing weather?

Cloudy and absolutely no wind.

Isabella Krisky

Year	Junior
Major	Environmental Engineering and Engineering & Public Policy
Hometown	Pittsburgh, PA
Position	Handler

How did you start playing ultimate?

I started playing ultimate because my twin brother, Sky, needed someone to throw with. By the time I came to college, I had been throwing for four years and wanted to give the sport a shot, and I am so glad that I did.

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

My favorite memory is when we beat Pitt at the showcase game this past fall. Our team was clicking, our throws were accurate, and the mood was electric! It was so much fun having so much of our team and the ultimate frisbee community there to support us. Bringing home the win wasn't too bad either.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Flick huck. Always.

Mia Sanborn

Year	Freshman
Major	Computational Biology
Hometown	Ann Arbor, Michigan
Position	D-line Cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

During orientation week I forgot to sign up for an activity on connections day so Ultimate Frisbee was the only thing option left. I had nothing better to do so I thought why not and haven't looked back!

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

When we all got eyebrow slits together.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Falling down on purpose after failing to catch a disk to make it look like you tried really hard.

Favorite tournament-route meal?

Not a meal but slurpees! Especially on bring your own cup day.

What's your ideal playing weather?

Maybe not ideal but one of my favorite memories is the alumni game when it was pouring rain and the field were flooded. Layouts looked super sick!

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

Iniyaa's calves!

Frances Adiwijaya

Year	Sophomore
Major	Electrical Engineering
Hometown	Lexington, Massachusetts
Position	D-line cutter

How did you start playing ultimate?

I started playing ultimate sophomore/junior year of high school. A bunch of my friends and I decided start together, but ultimately, they didn't stick with the sport. I didn't have many ultimate friends in the beginning, and learning how to play in the off-season was tough, but I stuck with the sport and it ended up being one of the best decisions of my life :)

Favorite memory from being on the Mellons?

The showcase game against pitt!! Live tweeting that game was so fun.

Favorite throw or move on the field?

Cutting deep on a fast break :p

What's your ideal playing weather?

Above 55 degrees, no wind, no humidity.

If you could have any body part from any player on the team, which would you want and why?

Iniyaa's ass... for the speed...