SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (Press Release) – The American International College women’s rugby team will compete at the highest level of the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association in 2026, as the team will compete towards the NIRA Division I Championship for the upcoming campaign after back-to-back undefeated seasons against NIRA Division II competition, Director of Athletics Rob Kearney and Director of Rugby Jameson Bonti announced today ( Thursday, March 12."
"We are incredibly proud to announce that AIC Women's Rugby has earned promotion to compete for the Division I Championship of the National Intercollegiate Rugby Association," said Kearney. "Back-to-back DII/DIII championships speak for themselves — this program has built something truly special, and this promotion is the natural next step in that journey. Moving to compete for the NIRA Division I championship is a transformative moment for American International College athletics, and it reflects the elite level of competition and commitment that this program has demonstrated year after year,” Kearney said.
“Overall, I’m just extremely proud of the team [for] all the years of putting in the work and realizing that this isn’t just a step up, but showing who we are as a whole culture, the discipline we have, the teamwork that we put in, and giving the logo and the players a new goal to work for,” said team captain Annekkia Ritter-Truxal.
AIC is no stranger to top-level competition in the rugby world, annually playing regular season 15s games against Division I opposition. The team has opened its season each of the last two years at Harvard University, and recorded wins over Princeton University and Sacred Heart University in 2024 and 2025, respectively.
Additionally, AIC also regularly faces the top programs in the nation during springtime 7s competition. The team has been a semifinalist in each of the last two years at the Collegiate Rugby Championships in 7s, taking third last season.
