Photo: Carrollee Gresham
Spring tends to focus on those high school teams building toward 15s nationals, but there is plenty of relevant rugby happening outside of that realms. Texas, for example, has just finished its 10-team 7s series in advance of the state championship. Reigning state champion Plano will be looking for its third title, and Canterbury High School Player of the Week Reagan Hunter is a playmaker integral to that pursuit.
RELATED: Canterbury Players of March • Plano Takes Texas 7s Title (2016) • GHSAA U18/U16 Assemble in Maryland
“Reagan has an innate leadership presence,” Plano coach Jon Savage praised. “She is in constant communication on the pitch and is a real student of the game. She is not only a powerful athlete but a strategic leader for our team.”
It’s a role that Hunter has been developing since she was seven years old, when she first started playing for Plano. In 2014 she won her first state 7s championship as an eighth grader, and then helped her team to the 2016 title as a sophomore. Her performance last spring earned her Rugby Texas Forward of the Year as well as next-level recognition.
She was selected to the Mid-America All-Star JV team (JV and varsity are separated by grade, not necessarily talent) that competed at the Denver Regional Cup Tournament. There, Hunter showed national age-grade selectors that she’s not a 7s-only player. In summer 2016, the Girls’ High School All-Americans (GHSAAs) fielded its first U16 team to play alongside its U18 East team in Emmitsburg, Md. Hunter was selected to the matches against the Quebec U16s and played flanker. The GHSAA U16s defeated Quebec by a combined 134-5.
Now that she’s in the system, Hunter continues to attend Atavus (which powers the GHSAAs) camps for continued development. She entered the 2017 season as Plano’s top scorer, but the coaching staff has transitioned the veteran from a try scorer to a playmaker.
“Reagan shows great awareness on the pitch,” Plano coach Jon Hunter explained. “She is dominant in the ruck and has the ability to quickly offload the ball to strategically use the space for scoring results.”
Hunter connects well with power-running sophomore Jamaya Hawkins, who is now Plano’s top scorer, as well as finishers Gloria Mackey (senior) and Jasmine Orchard (freshman). And during Saturday’s Cowboy Classic in Dallas, Hunter was in the middle of every play, distributing the ball to her teammates and setting the team up for 137 points scored in Dallas.
HEB (12-2-1) edged Plano (12-3) in the final standings, and the duo will take the top-two seeds into the state championship on May 6.
During each week of April, we’ll name a high school and college Player of the Week, sponsored by Canterbury. April’s weekly honorees will comprise the pool of nominees for Canterbury High School and College Players of April, for which readers will vote and select. Winners will receive additional recognition as well as a Canterbury gift package.