Summit is the standard for high school rugby in Colorado, the proof of which is found in double-digit state championship titles. Teams have come close – most notably Westside SWARM, which won the 2014-15 7s titles before the Tigers switched over from 15s – but no one has defeated Summit’s top side. Until last Saturday. Arapahoe High School beat Summit 12-10 in Saturday’s final, marking the fourth round of the Colorado State 7s series. That is an accomplishment worth celebrating.
“You’re talking about Summit,” Arapahoe head coach Darryl Lane stated with respect. “It’s pretty unbelievable. We might never beat them ever again.”
Lane spent more than a decade with Westside SWARM and helped build up the youth program. He also coached the girls’ high school team for five years. Numbers were always an issue, and at one point, the team’s 13 players hailed from nine different high schools. Nevertheless, SWARM was able to advance to state finals and produce NCAA varsity athletes, but the writing was on the wall.
“The only way we’re going grow is if we get into a high school,” Lane had told Arapahoe team manager and colleague Chip Zodrow.
Lane got involved with Arapahoe when his son started playing for the boys’ team and served as an assistant coach. In advance of the fall 2018 season, the SWARM girls aligned with six Arapahoe students for a combination squad, and Lane joined as head coach. It was an adjustment for everyone involved, and there are ripples of those tensions and personality clashes still working themselves out today, but it was a good move.
The team finished fourth in the state last year. The Arapahoe newcomers didn’t have a reference point for the team’s finish, but for players like Tessa Hann, the team’s captain and High School All-American (HSAA), placing outside of the top two was a heart-breaking shortcoming. Lane recalled Hann’s despair, and then the subsequent determination to get the squad where it needed to be.
Hann and Soneva Scott are at the epicenter of the squad. Hann started playing in middle school with Westside, and Scott is an accomplished alpine skier for Great Britain (her father is Irish). Both represented the HSAAs in international competition, and today are two of the four players who don’t attend Arapahoe.
“We used to get girls who never played a sport before – and that’s fine – but when you get varsity athletes, it’s incredible,” Lane lauded the benefits of closer connection to a high school. “We have two basketball players who are just short of six feet. I love that!”
Lane’s speaking of Marley Delaney and Emma McCabe, who bring a lot of presence to the pitch. They have the handling and ball skills, and have also diversified their rugby experience with select sides like Rocky Mountain Rebels and EIRA. During the summer, Hann, Delaney, McCabe, Heather Holter and Megan Burriesce helped the Amy Rusert-led Rebels to a fourth-place finish in the NAI 7s U18 Elite division.
During the Rugby Colorado 7s season, Arapahoe competes in Varsity Tier 1 with the seven other top-ranked teams. There’s a promotion-relegation system, where the bottom-two teams in Tier 1 move to Tier 2 per round, and they’re replaced by the previous week’s top-two teams from Tier 2. Below that level is JV, and Lane’s been able to send rookies to teams like the Lumberjackies JV to introduce players to the game. On any given weekend, 20 teams will be competing.
There have been issues regarding cohesion, and Lane indicated that the first three rounds of play had its ups and downs. But each game brought improvement, and players like Baylee Bottone, the former hooker-turned-scrumhalf who also developed into a great conversion kicker, really hit their groove. On Saturday, Lane saw the squad “coming out of the tunnel.”
In game one, the team lost Taryn Lenox to a broken hand, but not after she scored two tries and set the tone in the rucks. Two more injuries followed through another pool game and very close semifinal against the Valley Valkyries. Arapahoe limped into the final with just eight players available.
“When you’re down to eight players and playing Summit in the final game of the day, that’s tough,” Lane said. “Karl [Barth] is the best coach around. They always bring it, and we’re always up for it. It’s always such an intense, hard-hitting game between us, but they’re always a step ahead.”
Arapahoe had played Summit’s top side in round two, and after a scoreless first half, fell 14-0. So even though the Warriors (and SWARM) had never beat the Tigers, they felt close. In the round four final, Summit took a 10-0 first-half lead.
Talk at the half was positive – it’s just 10 points – and the message was: Just keep it up. Attacking near the 22, Hann tapped through a penalty, broke through two tackles and dove over the line for the try. Bottone slotted the important extras for a 10-7 scoreline. As regulation approached, Summit had the opportunity to kick the ball to touch and end it but instead worked another 5-6 phases. There was a turnover and the ball moved to Kenzie Riccardi, who nearly crossed the try line for the win. The ball moved to Scott, who finished off the effort for the try, and win. Elation followed.
“Summit is a great team and deserves all the respect in the world,” Lane said. “For us to do that … I just couldn’t believe how they finished the second half.”
Lane is hoping for a ripple effect for the league and his team.
“Maybe we can do that,” Lane said of other teams’ reaction to Arapahoe’s win. “For us, I do think it’s a turning point. They’re full of confidence and really enjoying it, and so that bond is getting stronger. We’ll see who we have and see how it goes.”
There’s a bye week as teams funnel to the USA Women’s 7s tournament this weekend in Glendale, and then another two series stops before the state championship on Oct. 26.
ARAPAHOE HS
Baylee Bottone
Megan Burriesce
Olivia Corpuz
Marley Delaney
Brooklyn Dunn
Malina Goldstein
Tessa Hann
Isabela Hensley
Heather Holter
Taryn Lenox
Emma McCabe
Aly Montoya
Reagan Peterson
Kellie Price
Kenzie Riccardi
Soneva Scott
Anna Toney
Kaya Walker
#Arapahoe RugbyColorado