craa.rugby – The Collegiate Rugby Association of America (CRAA) has announced the 28 teams participating in its 7s national championships on April 25-26 in Indianapolis. Competitors will do battle in two divisions — Premier and Challenger — inside the Kuntz Stadium complex, providing a professional showcase for the future stars of rugby. Buy Tickets.

The nine-team Premier Division includes seven NCAA Division I programs, NCAA DII Davenport University as well as Life University, an NAIA institution. The teams hail from nine different states, namely on the East Coast and as far west as St. Charles, Mo.

PREMIER 7s DIVISION

Army West Point (NY)
Dartmouth College (NH)
Davenport Univ (MI)
Harvard Univ (MA)
Life Univ (GA)
Lindenwood Univ (MO)
Mount St. Mary’s Univ (MD)
Princeton Univ (NJ)
Sacred Heart Univ (CT)

Dartmouth College is the reigning national champion and heads to Indianapolis with the momentum of an international training tour to Fiji and alongside Fijiana. To boot, the Big Green is home to recently capped Vasiti Turagavou, who debuted on the HSBC SVNS Series with the USA Women’s 7s team earlier this year.

“Expect fast, dynamic, and high-level rugby,” said CRAA Women’s 7s Tournament Director Tiffany Lopez, who called out Players to Watch like Harvard’s Jojo Mignone and Cal’s Mariah Overby in the Challenger Division.

The 18 teams in the Challenger Division are primarily Division I teams based on the West Coast. There are three DII programs, including debutante Grand Valley State University out of Michigan. An NCR team, the Lakers have previously competed at the CRC 7s, which occurs the same weekend in Boyds, Md., this year.

CHALLENGER 7s DIVISION

Air Force Academy (CO)
UC Berkeley (Cal) (CA)
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (CA)
Claremont Colleges (CA)
Fresno State (CA)
Gonzaga Univ (WA)
Grand Valley State Univ (MI)
McKendree Univ (IL)
Oregon State (OR)
Sacramento State (CA)
San Diego State Univ (CA)
San Jose State Univ (CA)
Stanford Univ (CA)
UC Santa Barbara (CA)
UC Santa Cruz (CA)
Univ Nevada Reno (NV)
Univ Washington (WA)
Western Washington Univ (WA)

“We’re excited to be joined by USA Rugby’s high-performance pathway and senior staff,” Lopez said of the championship lure, “not only to celebrate the hard work of these programs, coaches and players, but to continue creating meaningful opportunities for athletes to be seen on the world stage.”