Glendale Hosts HS National Invitational

Single-school champion Kahuku / Photo: Jackie Finlan

The 2019 Girls Single-School Rugby National Invitational Championships (NICs) take place May 18-19 in Glendale, Colorado. 2019 marks the 20th anniversary of this annual high school event, which has evolved into separate single-school and club championships.

Known as “Rugby Town USA” Glendale has hosted numerous high-level rugby events, including The Churchill Cup, HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, Rugby Town International Sevens Tournament, USA National Men’s and Women’s test matches, Red Bull Sevens, and USA Rugby club and collegiate national championships. The Glendale Merlins of the Women’s Premier League call Glendale home, as does the Glendale Raptors Major League Rugby (MLR) men’s team.

“As the Director of Rugby we are pleased to serve as the hosts for the Girls Single-School Rugby National Invitational Championships,” said Mark Bullock. “This allows our Women’s Premier League team to observe some of the best talent in the high school ranks and, of course, to recruit potential stars of the future. We look forward to a great weekend of girls rugby along with our MLR match with our rivals the Seattle Seawolves.”

“I am really excited to hear that the Girls Single-School Rugby National Invitational Championships will be in Glendale,” enthused Karl Barth, head coach of Colorado champion Summit High School. “Infinity Park is an amazing pitch and professionally run venue for the girls to play in and just elevates the memories they will have traveling and competing with teammates and competing with great opponents.”

South Meck and City Honors debuted at the 2018 NIC / Photo: Jackie Finlan

Single-school teams will compete in a quarterfinal and semifinal Saturday with final matches Sunday, May 19. Developing programs are encouraged to compete against teams they might not normally ever compete against. Organizers are once again planning multiple brackets of competition; an eight-team division one competition, along with an eight-team second division.

John Klein, chair of the National Girls Coaches Committee (NGCC) for single schools, stressed that “single-school competition does not mean teams need be school-recognized varsity programs yet in order to compete; only that teams strive to draw their members from one community with the goal of getting a team in every school in America. Some teams from last year were considered a club at their schools; and others were unofficially unrecognized by their school administration but nonetheless found a way to build a strong presence in their community, laying a strong foundation for the future.”

State College is from Pennsylvania and McMinn from Tennessee / Photo: Jackie Finlan

The school brackets could feature returning competition from as far away as Hawaii, throughout the Midwest, the South, and East in addition to new competitors from Idaho and Utah.

Registration forms and Single-School NIC questions should be directed to NGCC member John Waliszewski. Venue and city information should be directed to Kieran Nelson (303) 639-4609 or Justin Gill (303) 639-4604.

Congratulations and best of luck to all the competitors.

CONTACTS

Tournament Host

Mark Bullock, Director of Rugby, Glendale Raptors

mbullock@glendale.co.us

(303) 639-4710

NGCC

John Klein, chair (single schools)

jklein@sdsm.k12.wi.us, (414) 793-7023

John Waliszewski (registrations)

wisconsingirlsrugby@gmail.com, (262) 501-2780

Buck Billings