Upholding a long team tradition, several members of the Wisconsin Women’s Rugby Club traveled south of the border to play in Rockford’s annual W-fest Rugby Tournament, Saturday, June 18.
A “luck of the draw” tournament, each player is assigned a random shirt color and then grouped with two other women and seven men to form a co-ed full-contact rugby team. The tournament is double-elimination. The state of Wisconsin was well represented by more than 25 women and men’s players overall which provided a large cheering squad throughout the day.
The day’s final match saw current Wisconsin Women’s captain Mary Hanks’ Red Team playing former Wisconsin captain Kelly Clerkin’s Salmon Team. Salmon took the tournament, but Hanks was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable for all women’s players.
Wisconsin Women’s players who participated in the tournament were Mary Hanks, Nadia Riese, Laura Hanks, Caitlin Keating-Bitonti, Michelle “Mike” Blaser, Jessica Burda, Jenny Pederson, Kelly Mullen, and Kelly Clerkin. They were joined by friends Greta Slack from UW-Madison, Xane, Bambi from UW-Stout, Ali from the Amazons, and Amy Cullen from Chicago.
