NCR – More than 25 women’s teams are joining National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) from Collegiate Rugby Association of America (CRAA) and will begin competition in fall 2024. The teams hail primarily from the former CRAA Rocky Mountain conference and will merge with the NCR High Peaks conference; and New England Wide conference, which will merge with the Colonial Coast. [lead photo: Colorado State will join NCR / Jeff Dalton Photography]
With 11 new teams, the High Peaks conference will become one of the largest and most competitive conferences in the country with 19 clubs across Division I, Division II and Small College. Colorado State, Wyoming, Utah and defending Rocky Mountain conference champion Colorado Mesa University join other perennially strong clubs such as Colorado School of Mines and Boise State, who are back-to-back champions of the Lonestar Bowl.
During the regular season, the High Peaks teams will compete regionally in order to send divisional champions to the national playoffs. Tracy Gola, head coach of the University of Colorado, will partner with Kayla Dustin, the current High Peaks commissioner, to co-lead the High Peaks conference.
“We’re really pleased to unify the region’s women’s teams and create a more manageable travel schedule,” Dustin noted. “The High Peaks teams are playing some great rugby, and we look forward to seeing more of our teams compete on NCR’s national stage.”
Yale at 2024 CRC 7s (Photo: Jackie Finlan / TRB)
Fourteen new programs will join NCR’s Small College competition in the New England region. These schools, currently playing in the New England Wide Collegiate Rugby Conference, will merge with other Small College programs in the Colonial Coast Rugby Conference, creating one of the deepest Small College 15s divisions in the country.
The new members include CRC 7s champion Yale along with several other strong rugby schools such as Smith, Wellesley and Southern Connecticut. The schools will be divided across a Championship Division and Challenge Division, with the winner of the Championship Division receiving an automatic place in the 15s national playoffs. NCR’s national Small College competition will exceed 120 schools across the country in 2024.
“I applaud these new programs for coming together under a singular fall 15s championship pathway,” NCR Women’s Director Angela Smarto said. “This is a huge step forward to creating a seasonality alignment for prospective NCAA teams, as we hope to see more schools support women’s rugby with NCAA resourcing. I’m excited to see how teams from New England and the Rocky Mountain region will shake up the competition this year. ”
The following teams will join National Collegiate Rugby in the fall 2024 season:
NEW ENGLAND WIDE CONFERENCE
Mount Holyoke College
Smith College
Southern Connecticut State Univ
Springfield College
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Wellesley College
Wentworth Institute of Technology
Yale Univ
HIGH PEAKS CONFERENCE
U.S. Air Force Academy
Univ. Colorado
Univ. Colorado – Colorado Springs
Colorado Mesa College
Colorado State Univ
Univ. Denver
Montana State Univ
Univ. New Mexico
New Mexico State Univ
Univ. Northern Colorado
Univ. Utah
Utah State Univ
Utah Valley Univ
Univ. Wyoming
RETURNING HIGH PEAKS TEAMS
Boise State Univ
Colorado College
Colorado School of Mines
Idaho State Univ
College of Idaho
Southern Utah Univ
CRAA IMPLICATIONS
With the continuing exodus of teams from CRAA to NCR, CRAA no longer has a fall 15s season for its women’s members. CRAA lost its Division II Fall 15s Championship season last year when all of its fall-based conferences moved to NCR. The two conferences that fueled the CRAA Division I Fall 15s Championship season last year — Rocky Mountain and Northeast — are now NCR members.
CRAA still has its DI and DII spring-based competitions. Now that there is no fall counterpart, the spring is technically CRAA’s “national” season and could call those titles “national championships” instead of “spring championships.” The CRAA women’s membership is essentially the West Coast, Arizona, Florida and a handful of teams in DelMarVa that had dual membership in CRAA and NCR 15s. DI Elite is also CRAA.