#16 - Ben Ristau

Nickname: TallE
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 185 lbs
Position: Tall
Years w/ESN: 2002 - Present
Major: History
Hometown: Livermore, CA
e-mail: blr16 AT pitt DOT edu

Biography:
2006-2007 Season Where has the time gone? I'm back for my ultimate year. To those who would accuse me of pulling a Matt Leinart I would say, "Latin is a rigorous academic class. It's not like I'm taking ballroom dancing or anything." But I would also say, "28 touchdowns, 3800 passing yards, Heisman finalist, and No. 2 team in the nation sounds pretty good to me." Besides interesting course loads, the 5th year is a time for reflection. It seems like only a few years ago we sucked big time. Actually, we did. And still do. But at least we are losing at nationals these days. I'm not sure what I'll be doing next year, but I know I won't be playing college ultimate, so here's to one more year.
2007 Motto: Hard work.
2007 Goal: Smash the egg.
By the way, if you really want to know what's going on, read the blog.

2004-2005 Season Well, these days I consider myself a true Pittsburgh Ultimate player. I've been playing for Pitt a couple years now and I also play for Pittsburgh's club team, RUN. An upside down flick released from shoulder height is a hiawatha. A scoober is something completely different. (Ask me sometime and I'll show you.) Anyway, Pittsburgh is a great town to play Ultimate in.

It has been two great years with En Sabah Nur, but I truly believe that the best is yet to come. Last year's crop of rookies has matured into veterans (well, at least on the field) and this year's rookies have tons of potential. I can guarantee that I will work hard to improve myself and the team and if we all work together, we could really have something.

2002-2003 Season A lanky product of the ultimate hotspot San Francisco Bay Area, Ben has come back east to show how West Coast Ultimate is played. He is known for such antics as arriving halfway through a tournament at Penn State after waking up late and taking Greyhound and asking if it was as cold as it gets in Pittsburgh when it was 50 degrees. (Editor's note: Ben would like you to know that he feels that statement to be taken out of context and not representative of his meaning.) In his non-ultimate time, Ben puts his hands to use playing the cello in the University Chamber Orchestra.