The 4th annual Girls’ High School 7s National Tournament occurred Oct. 23-24 in Meridian, Idaho, and 16 teams vied for top honors. Eight states sent representatives to the event, but it was Utah that impressed the most. The Beehive State took 1st, 2nd and 4th places , sending a strong message about the quality of age grade rugby in Utah. [lead photo: Ipo Watts @shotsbywatts]
“I think with us and the Majestics here, we keep the level of rugby continually progressing not only for us two [clubs] but all teams here in Utah,” Skyridge head Coach Colin Puriri pointed to two of the best high school clubs in the country as the sources for the single-school teams. “All you got to look at is the team going to the Junior Olympics and five of them are from Utah.”
After the USA Pathways Talent ID camp on Thursday and Friday, the field divided into four pools of four teams. Tournament organizers did well to feature four different states in each of the pools, so no one was playing a familiar opponent on day one. Utah’s Skyridge, Westlake and Orem went 3-0 in their respective pools, all advancing to Saturday’s Cup quarterfinals. Meridian out of Idaho, which placed four teams into the competition, also went undefeated during the pool rounds.
In Pool A, Westlake, which finished runner-up to Skyridge by two points in the Utah 7s final, beat Colorado’s Summit High School, Idaho’s Middleton, and nationals first-timer Family Faith Academy (Texas) by a combined 75-22. The Tigers, which had two squads active last weekend due to the CIRA 7s championships back home, posted two shutouts to also move forward into the Cup quarterfinals…