Emporia State’s first structured disc golf team is headed to nationals next week in Marion, North Carolina.

There are 10 athletes on the team broken into three different groups. The DI team has four men, the DII team has four men and two on the women’s team. Each group has qualified for the national competition and the varsity team is undefeated.

“The fact that we have more courses per capita than anywhere else in the country, it really helps,” said Eric McCabe, first official head coach and former world champion. “We have all styles of courses as well. We have from beginner all the way up to true champion level courses. So there’s no real better place for disc golf than Emporia.”

There are 13 different courses and Emporia is considered the “Disc Golf Capital of the World” according to Emporia State’s website.

The disc golf team has been ranked number one in the country since November, but recently dropped down to number two.

Their season starts in October and goes until April. Teams don’t have a “lose or go home” type of situation, but they do have to qualify for nationals. The DI team qualified in November and the DII team qualified two weeks ago, according to McCabe.

These athletes are on scholarships after earning a spot on the team through tryouts.

“How it started was last year we put word out that we were gonna be doing recruiting and we were gonna have tryouts,” McCabe said. “So just like any tryout for any sport, we had students come out and compete in a distance contest, putting contest, accuracy and then they had to report two rounds to me to get an average of what they are shooting.”

They will be doing the same thing next summer and they are looking to add more to their team. They will be making an announcement soon through ESU channels.

McCabe said it’s an “honor” to be coaching the team.

For more information on the team, tryouts, or to follow their journey to nationals follow their instagram account@ esudiscgolf.