Under gray skies and on muddy fields, 24 men's and 15 women's Frisbee teams from the United States and Canada competed in the ninth annual Spring Phling tournament, held this past Saturday and Sunday on the Penn State campus.

The Penn State women's club Frisbee team, Isis, was the bright spot of the tournament, as it fought its way through seven rounds of play to win the women's championship with a thrilling 13-9 victory over Wisconsin in the final round.

The men's team, Spank, did not fare quite as well, but still made it to the quarterfinals in which it lost to Ohio State to finish 2-4 for the tournament. Ohio State went on to lose to Michigan State in the finals.

Penn State also fielded a men's B team, which lost to Rochester in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket, and men's and women's alumni teams, which both lost in the early rounds of their respective championship brackets.

Isis dominated its competition both days, with three of its four Saturday victories by margins of 11 or more. The women entered Sunday's play as the No. 1 seed and never looked back.

Co-captain Karen Schulte attributed the team's success to its size and widespread talent.

"We had such a big team and we could count on everyone to make the play," Schulte said. "It was an awesome tournament for our rookies; they really stepped it up."

While the victory in the finals to win Isis the championship was the sweetest for the team members, the semifinal win that gave them the berth in the finals was also significant.

"It was great to beat [Swarthmore College in the semifinals] because they are going to be our competition to get to nationals," tournament director and team member Amy Morrison said.

The men were also pleased with the tournament, despite not finishing quite as high as they would have liked.

Their outdoor play and intercollegiate competition has been greatly restricted this season, due to winter weather and the cancellation of two early-season tournaments, and the men were aware of the effects of that this weekend.

"We played well, with good chemistry," tournament director and Spank member Scott Duffy said. "But other teams were already in mid-season form, and we're not up to that yet."

Each tournament brings the team closer to the level of play it hopes to reach in order to qualify for nationals, and the men were also aware of that this weekend.

"There was a high intensity of play today and having good teams here made all the difference," Duffy said. "Playing against better teams helped us tune up a lot so that by the time regionals and sectionals come around we're going to be on our ball too."

Isis will next compete in its sectional tournament, the first step towards qualifying for nationals, while Spank will have one more tournament, Umassacre at the University of Massachusetts, to tune up at before competing in its sectional tournament.