With the USA 7s and Las Vegas Invitational occurring the previous weekend, compounded by another round inclement weather on the east coast, only one league game occurred among those teams on the DII College Spring Ranking.
John Brown thumped Central Missouri 100-12 to improve to 5-0 in Mid-America. Forward domination allowed the backs to enjoy space and saw wing Vashti Smith dot down eight tries. Flyhalf Alexis Barnes and outside center Julia Hightower scored twice each, while lock Haley Hays, flanker Bridge Schneider, scrumhalf Karlie Bright and inside center Olivia Maxwell, who also kicked eight conversions, scored tries as well.
Lots of teams sent players to Las Vegas last weekend, including Coastal Carolinas and College of Charleston, which supplied teammates to the Carolinas Select 7s team. And Saint Mary’s College (Calif.) was the only DII-ranked team that entered the tournament as itself, finishing third overall in the college 7s division.
There’s also a revision to the ranking. CSU Long Beach was removed from the ranking after a 12-point loss to MiraCosta College, but the Spartans are an NSCRO college. Pacific Desert is a hybrid league (Occidental is the other team that declared its NSCRO alignment, and although Claremont is eligible – and has competed in NSCRO before – the Foxes are competing in DII). So the 49ers are back on the list as the second-best DII team in the conference, which will contest one semifinal match – no final – to get its number of games up to the minimum required for post-season consideration.
