Photo: KJ Feury
There’s nothing concrete being circulated regarding which teams are competing in the women’s college 7s national championship, how they’re getting there, or for which division they are qualifying. The uncertainty is a combination of ever-evolving parameters and the changing competitive landscape, but the who process could no doubt benefit from more transparency.
This season alone, events have lost qualifier status after being approved for it, and teams are still waiting to hear whether they’re actually advancing to Glendale, Colo. The event is May 19-21.
The college 7s championship site, www.usacollege7s.com, lists just three qualifiers for both the DI Elite and Open divisions, which will both field eight teams. The following is conjecture:
The following are the winners of qualifiers and/or potential qualifiers:
Big Ten: Penn State
Life 7s: Lindenwood
Polar Bear 7s: Army
Stanford 7s: Chico State
Oregon State 7s: Washington State
Air Force 7s: Air Force
Penn State holds a qualifier on May 12 and Davenport, the reigning DII 7s national champion and current DI fall 15s champion, is looking for an at-large bid. One has to imagine the Panthers will be added. Same with Life, which finished runner-up to Lindenwood at its own tournament (17-5 loss in title match). Dartmouth and Harvard would also be good additions, with the former winning the Ivies and the latter finishing runner-up at the NIRA qualifier. All of the varsity teams have played a full, 7s-only spring, as opposed to the majority of the other potential participants, which play 7s and 15s this time of year. Central Washington is a varsity program but had a light schedule this spring, playing 7s early on. That said, the Wildcats are always a good addition.
Furthermore, UC Davis finished runner-up to Chico State at Stanford 7s [Update: UC Davis is not submitting an at-large bid], and the Cardinal finished second at last weekend’s Oregon State 7s. That alone gives 12 quality teams for a DI Elite bracket (the national championship is eight teams), and the tournament could follow the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series format.
The OPEN division is more elusive, mostly for lack of definition. Is this a primarily DII competition or will it involve DI Elite overflow? If the latter, then you’ll run into a scenario seen in the DI Elite / DI Spring 15s playoffs, where teams that are not trying to play in the same competition are forced to.
The following DII teams have won their respective conference champions (will update):
Mid-Atlantic: Bloomsburg
Rugby Northeast: Stonehill
Tri-State: Marist
SIRC: Kennesaw State