The MVP

The National All-Star Championships were this past weekend. The Midwest Thunderbirds defeated the USA u20 team in the final 26-25, in a thrilling match.

Brittany Houston, of UWM and Vernon, earned MVP honors for her play over the course of the tournament. Our editor here thought this worth a shout out because she's the first WGR alumn to earn such recognition. Just let that sink in a little. That means she was selected as the most outstanding player out of all the all-star players at the selectside tournament. Pretty cool.

An excerpt from Rugby Magazine's match report gives readers an idea as to why she is so deserving of recognition:

"She's a field general," Riley said of the tournament MVP. "She had a marvelous game. Brit is about to graduate but won't be a full-time student next semester, so there's a lot of talk about where she's going to play her club rugby."

A longtime scrumhalf, she's been a widely respected player for many years now, first playing for the USA u20 team and after aging out, continuing to play selectside rugby with the Midwest.

It's also nice to see her giving back to the game, as she's an asst. coach for the Wisconsin u19 selectside, set to play this summer. Best of luck!

While rosters have been hard to find, word on the street is that CMHS alumn and Grand Valley State scrumhalf Emma Pesci was also on the Midwest all-star roster. Congrats on the championship!