The Disc Golf Club will be competing for a national title for the fourth-consecutive year.

Currently ranked ninth in the nation, the team clinched a bid to the National Collegiate Disc Golf Championships after topping the field at the 2013 Heartland Collegiate Disc Golf Championships on Oct. 6 in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Iowa State will represent the Upper Midwest Region in the 2014 National Collegiate Disc Golf Championships on April 16 to 19 at the Hippodrome Disc Golf Complex in North Augusta, S.C.

After finishing 20th out of 60 clubs at last year’s championship, the club has remained undefeated throughout the 2013-14 regular season to crack the top 10.

“We have always had a strong team at Iowa State,” said club president Calvin Song. “We are expecting to place top 20 in the nation. Our main goal is to get top 15 or top 10.”

At the collegiate level, disc golf teams consist of four individuals with the top three performances from each team factoring into the final score. In order to claim the top-10 finish his group is aiming for, Song knows his group will be relying on strong performances from each golfer.

A native of Ames, Song is a sophomore in pre-business preparing for a double major in marketing and management. While attending Ames High School, Song discovered the Disc Golf Club after competing in the club’s annual tournament.

He was able to join the club for the 2013 championship as a freshman, where he finished 91st in a field of nearly 200 competitors.

“Individually, we all have different goals,” Song said. “My goal this year is to place in the top 50.”

Joey Lane, senior in management information systems, is Iowa State’s only returning All-American. Lane began playing disc golf while attending Eddyville-Blakesburg High School after a nine-hole course was constructed in his hometown.

As a sophomore, Lane joined the team and went on to place 27th in the intermediate flight at the national competition later that year. The following season, Lane finished 6th at the national championship, tying for the best finish in school history.

“As far as a team aspect, it’s always just about getting back to nationals; just to qualify,” Lane said. “I would rather see the team do better this year than me do better as an individual.”

Jacob Lauber, student in the cross-enrollment program at Iowa State and Des Moines Area Community College, will be returning to nationals for the second time with the club after a 59th place finish last year. Lauber is an amateur member of the Professional Disc Golf Association and has earned 11 top-10 finishes in tournaments throughout the Midwest in 2013.

“He plays a lot of tournaments,” Song said. “He plays more than maybe all of us combined. He is always out there traveling.”

For Song, the next step in moving his team forward is landing more corporate sponsorships. The Disc Golf Club recently has benefited from a partnership with Avery Jenkins, one of the top disc golf professionals in the world.

“[Jenkins] travels the world, and he is a big advocate for the sport,” Song said. “It’s going to be really cool to have his name on the back of our shirts at nationals.”

Upon graduation, Song, Lane and Lauber said they eventually might explore the world of professional disc golf. The life of a professional disc golfer consists of frequent travel and low tournament payouts.

For the disc golfers at Iowa State, they all agreed that it’s something they do because they enjoy the sport.

“It’s all about the fun for me,” Lane said.