Carnegie Mellon has produced at least one world-champion athlete.
Tommy Hendrickson brought home the gold last summer when he helped the U.S. junior open squad to victory in the 2004 World Ultimate Championships in Finland.
Since the international meet, the civil engineering freshman has become one of the biggest ambassadors for Ultimate Frisbee, a team sport that has similarities to football and basketball.
Hendrickson joined 17 other talented American athletes to compete for the gold August 1-7 in Turku, in southwestern Finland. Sixty teams from more than 30 countries participated in the games.
The seven-on-seven sport began in the late 1960s with player pioneer Joel Silver, producer of the popular movie “The Matrix.” It’s played on a field similar in size to a soccer field with end zones. A goal is scored when a player on offense completes a pass to a teammate in their opponent’s end zone. The first team to score 15 points wins.
According to the Colorado-based Ultimate Player Association (UPA), the sport is fast becoming a multi-million dollar business with more than 100,000 youth and adults playing league and pickup games throughout North America.
Tommy now plays for the Carnegie Mellon Open Ultimate Frisbee team. In March, the team was ranked 22nd in the nation among 212 schools by the UPA.
