Wayne State College swept the DI teams.
Mid-February might be an early start for spring 7s in Iowa, unless of course the tournament occurs indoors. The University of Iowa held its annual Hawkeye Classic inside the the school’s tennis and recreation center, and 26 colleges and clubs funneled into four brackets: women’s elite, women’s college competitive, women’s college open, and men’s open.
Six teams competed in competitive collegiate division: Davenport Univ. (Grand Rapids, Mich.), host University of Iowa (Iowa City), Iowa State (Ames, Iowa), Minnesota (Minneapolis), Notre Dame (Bend, Ind.) and Wayne State College (Wayne, Neb.). Originally, this division positioned itself for an automatic qualifier to the USA Rugby College 7s National Championship, but upon screening the participating DI teams, Northern Illinois University was deemed ineligible due to its non-compliant standing with USA Rugby. Thus NIU was demoted to the college developmental bracket, and Wayne State College, the 7s and 15s NSCRO national champion, was promoted into the would-be AQ bracket. With that said, Iowa head coach Jim Estes indicated that, per USA Rugby Senior Scholastic Manager Jonathan Atkeison, the competition was worthy of an at-large berth to nationals.
Notre Dame finished in 2nd place.
“Wayne State shocked the world,” Jim Estes lauded the Nebraska program that outscored its four DI opponents 177-0. “Wow. As the UIOWA coach I can say we’ve traded wins back and forth with Wayne State over the last few years, but this was the best Wayne State team I’ve ever seen. They were strong, fast and absolutely mastered a sophisticated scheme. They also drift and contain exceptionally well on defense. Darrin Barner and his players have developed an outstanding program.”
POOL PLAY
Wayne State 46-0 Minnesota
Wayne State 45-0 Davenport
Davenport 32-27 Minnesota
Notre Dame 38-10 Iowa State
Notre Dame 28-21 Iowa
Iowa 40-12 Iowa State
Semifinals
Notre Dame 19-12 Davenport
Wayne State 25-0 UIOWA
Final: Wayne State 61-0 Notre Dame
Davenport, Iowa, Notre Dame and Wayne State College will meet again at the Irish 7s on March 26. In the college developmental bracket, Iowa and Davenport supplied two sides apiece, while NIU and Simpson College rounded out the six-team field. In the men’s open division, Iowa ran three teams and was joined by Augustana, Simpson, QC Irish, Palmer College and Wayne State College.
University of Iowa squads
On Sunday, Feb. 16, the Hawkeye Classic ran a five-team women’s elite division. Chicago Lions dominated the day, beating Chicago North Shore’s two sides and Palmer College’s two teams en route to the championships.
“The 2020 Hawkeye Classic ran well,” Estes ended. “Clean, polished play from all the teams. The referees were sharp and the field and facilities served us well. UIOWA Assistant Head Coach Kathleen O’Neill did a brilliant job with our logistics.”
USA Rugby has not yet released a comprehensive list of 7s automatic qualifiers, and this information is typically available late in the season.
Chicago Lions won the elite bracket.