Summer Notes

 

--Congrats to USA u20s Aly Cunningham (Catholic Memorial HS, Waukesha Tag Rugby, and Sacred Heart Univ.)  and Payton Janicsek (Kettle Moraine).  The USA u20s and u23's travelled to Canada to play two matches.

--The North America 7s Selectside event took place this past weekend.  The teams, including the Badger Academy with several Wisconsin coaches, finished off the event with the SacPAL Amazons winning the final 19-17.  Order of finish:

1 Sacramento PAL Amazons, 2 Majestics, 3 Rhinos Rugby Academy

4 Sacramento Harlequins, 5 Pioneer 7s, 6 Pasefika

7 Eagle HS (Idaho), 8 Provo/Wasatch HS, 9 Pleasanton (CA)

10 Lamorinda (CA), 11 Badger Rugby Academy, 12 San Mateo (CA)

13 Mana, 14 Rocky Mountain, 15 Valkyrie

16 Rugby Colorado, 17 Bitteroot Koa, 18 Rock Rugby

19 Desert Warrior, 20 Rush Rugby

--EIRA (Eagle Impact Rugby Academy) took over 40 girls on a tour of Ireland, playing several matches on their tour.  Several Wisconsin student-athletes are participating including Catholic Memorial's Audrey Fryda playing for their u18 team and Green Bay Rugby Club's Carolina Martinez with Madison Furies' Cece Stowers playing for their u16 side.

--We apologize if we missed any others!

WGR Conference Alignment 2022-2023

 Wisconsin Girls Rugby, sources tell us, has settled on conference alignment for the upcoming Fall 2022 Girls High School Rugby State Championship season.  Featuring five teams in each conference, the season culminates in a semifinal round followed by the WGR State Tournament on Oct 30th at the Milwaukee County Sports Complex.  

The WGR State Tournament sees each conference team play to determine their final state ranking.

The Jeff Noe Conference:

DSHA HS, Green Bay, Muskego HS, Pulaski, Stevens Point Area HS

The Tony Oliver Conference:

Catholic Memorial HS, DSHA JV, Hamilton HS, Kettle Moraine/Brookfield Co-Op, Madison 

Conference Notes:

Tony Oliver coached the Highland (Homestead HS) team along with later founding the Oak Creek HS Girls team, where his younger daughter played rugby.  Born in South Africa, he was tragically killed riding his bicycle one early Sunday morning.

After playing last fall together as a co-op team, the Pulaski and Green Bay programs are playing as their own clubs, which is how they both started.  With multiple high schools over 1000 students in the vicinity, hopes are high that rugby can continue to appeal to the many student-athletes in the area (GB Preble, GW East, and Pulaski HS all have over 1000 students in addition to the smaller GB SW high school)

Muskego is in its 2nd season after a hiatus of several years.  As a school-supported program they have the potential to bring in strong participation numbers.

Several teams are looking to schedule additional JV matches which is an encouraging sign for the overall growth and health of the league.

The Kettle Moraine (Knightmares) along with Brookfield Bruisers are combining for the fall season due to low numbers.  Administrators are hopeful these two long-standing programs can improve their drawing power in the area.

The format of the Semi Final weekend on Oct 20th is TBD at this time. Organizers are unsure of returning to the Cottage Grove rugby facility for a tournament style semifinal event. 

Final Team Ranking for the Fall 2021 WGR Season (15's)*

1 Catholic Memorial

2 DSHA

3 Hamilton

4 Green Bay/Pulaski Co-Op

5 Brookfield (tie)

5 Stevens Point (tie)

7 DSHA JV

8 Kettle Moraine

9 Muskego

10 Madison

*Spring 2023 results would see DSHA retake the top ranking, having won the National Championship.

Ref Training July 30th, 2022

 Alumni, the rugby world needs your help.   Ref clinic coming up!

Contact: aprochniak@gmail.com

1st American to Captain Trinity University

 Genevieve Ruesch, a DSHA class of 2017 alumni, recently completed her career and degree at Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland.   In addition to being a regular starter at scrumhalf at Trinity, the #9 with an incredible pass became the first American to captain the successful Irish university team.  While Ruesch was a heavily recruited high school player during her time at DSHA she chose to pursue her literary and educational goals oversees and was able to continue her successful rugby career at the same time.

The first picture below captures her the second time she became a National Champion, granted her most recent is in a different country.  Her first was with DSHA in 2017 when she led her team to victory over Kahuku HS at the Girls Single-School National Tournament.  Her university side pictured below recently won the National Irish Touch Championship.  It's an idea we hear she's interested in promoting in the States as well. (Pictured bottom row, fourth from right)