North Panhandle Times

The 15's season was a historic year for the Wheeling University Rugby team as they finished as the #7 team in the nation, their highest finish in program history. The Cardinals are being rewarded for their hard work, with 10 Cardinals representing the team at the 2023 Collegiate Rugby All-Stars Men's National Shiel Challenge down in Houston, Texas. The two-day event will see the Cardinals compete and train with some of the best players in the region while also getting to meet several USA Rugby Olympians who competed in both Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020). 

The teams reported on Thursday, January 12th, and have gone through training on both Thursday and Friday, leading up to the big weekend of action. The ten Cardinals representing the team are Lawula Bata, Josh Blankenship, Chief Chipfumbu, Navin Couch, Aaron Juma, Rua Karimazondo, Larry Old, Clarouly Meca, Michael Muleya, and Noam Taurin. After training for the first two days, the competition begins on Saturday with a full day of action followed by more tournament play. The representatives are split into two teams, the all-stars, and the rising stars, with the All Stars playing three games on Saturday and two games on Sunday while the Rising Stars will play two on Saturday and three on Sunday. 

Among the Cardinal's representatives are some of the biggest contributors from the 15's team's success this season. Juma was the Cardinal's top scorer this past season, leading the team with 11 tries this season and averaging 1.5 tries per game. He finished the season second on the team in points with 55 points and made a big impact during his freshman season. Joining him on the offensive side of the ball is fellow freshman Lawula Bata, who played big for the Cardinals down the stretch. He finished the season with five tries, scoring four of those during the second half of the season and the stretch playoff run. He was responsible for one of the craziest plays of the season when he kicked the ball to himself for an incredible try against Adrian College. 

The Cardinals will also be well represented on the defensive side with several of their top tacklers making the trip. Leading the way are junior Michael Muleya and redshirt sophomore Clarouly Meca, who each provided solid defense for the team this season. Meca got in on the scoring action during the year with one of the biggest tries of the season. He started the scoring against Belmont Abbey in the first round of the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) playoffs, getting across the try line to make it a 10-3 Cardinal's lead. The Cardinals would go on to win that game 19-13, with Meca's early tries one of the plays that made a difference on the pitch. 

Most of the games this weekend will be streamed on the National Collegiate Rugby YouTube Channel. You can watch select games throughout the weekend by clicking HERE. 

Original source can be found here