BERKELEY, Calif. (Cal Rugby Release) – Fourteen new student-athletes from 14 different high schools and rugby teams have joined the California Golden Bears for 2015-16 as the program enters its 134th year as the oldest intercollegiate team on campus. 

Comprised of 13 freshmen and one community-college transfer, the new Bears feature 10 forwards and four backs. Half of these new players attended Nike Cal Varsity Rugby Camps and many continue a family history at the University. Half arrive at Cal from within the state of California, two are from the East Coast, three are foreign students and two other international students are U.S. passport holders.

“We are really pleased with the class. They’re off to a good start as hard-working, mature young men,” said head coach Jack Clark. “I sense they have the potential to be great Golden Bears.”

PAIR FROM THE BAY AREA
Nathan Becker is a 6-3, 206-pound flanker/No. 8 from Walnut Creek, Calif., who graduated from San Ramon Valley High School and played his youth rugby for the Danville Oaks, where he was first identified by former Cal All-American and Oaks Middle School coach Dave Leibowitz. Becker helped Danville win the Northern California Invitational Tournament in 2015, one year after it finished No. 3 at the national championships in Elkhart, Ind. Becker was a multi-sport athlete and member of the National Society of High School Scholars at San Ramon, where he earned AP credits in chemistry, physics and calculus. Born in San Jose, he attended the Nike Cal Varsity Rugby Camp in 2014 and in 2015 he was a NorCal All-Star. Additionally, Becker travelled overseas to train with the Manly Marlins’ youth side in Australia. His mother, Claire, received her MBA from Harvard after earning her bachelor’s degree from Cal. She is the founder of Wonderful Works, an entertainment production, licensing and merchandising company. His father, Greg, is a graduate of Dickinson State University in North Dakota, where he a member of the school’s Hall of Fame for his achievements in football, basketball and baseball; holder of a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Cal State Hayward and president at Wonderful Works. Becker’s great-grandfather George Glendenning is also a Cal rugby alumnus. Becker is considering both forestry and business as potential majors at the University.
Peter Sekona is a 5-11, 255-pound forward who will play in the front row for Cal after embarking on his rugby career as a No. 8 under coach Keir Paasch, a Cal rugby alumnus, with the Berkeley Rhinos youth club, which named him MVP for 2015. Sekona was his class valedictorian and a summa cum laude graduate of Saint Mary's College High School, where he earned AP credits as a senior in chemistry and English. A first-generation American, he was born in Los Angeles and hails from Richmond, Calif. At St. Mary’s, Sekona was an all-league selection as a two-way lineman in football as a junior and senior for the Panthers. In 2013 he was a co-captain and scholar athlete as his team won the Division IV North Coast Section championship. He attended the Nike Cal Varsity Rugby Camp in 2014. His father, Lochlein, a graduate of St. Joseph’s College in England, works for the City of Richmond as an independent contractor; his mother, Simiami, is a nurse. 

SANTA ROSA TRANSFER
Thomas Robles is the lone transfer student among the new members of the team, having attended Santa Rosa Junior College for two years after graduating from nearby Cardinal Newman High School. A 6-2, 194-pounder from Windsor, Calif., Robles was an internationally ranked junior ski racer as a youth, collecting Junior Olympic gold medals in the slalom and Super G events, training in 2009 in the national development system and in 2012 with the U.S. Ski Team. Robles played his rugby with the Santa Rosa Rugby Club, where he was the team’s top try-scorer in 2015 under head coach and Cal rugby alumnus Alan Petty; and for coach Dan Towers, also a Cal rugby alumnus, at Santa Rosa JC, which named him its Most Valuable Forward in 2014. At Cardinal Newman he was a two-year starting linebacker on the gridiron; academically, he was named a North Coast Section Scholar Athlete his junior year. While maintaining his transfer-track curriculum at SRJC, he also worked as a tutor in economics. Robles’ mother, Deborah, is a fourth-grade teacher and a graduate of Arizona State University; his father, Tom, is a retired restaurateur and graduate of San Diego State. His sister, Hannah, plays volleyball for San Diego City College. Robles is considering the pursuit of a degree in economics at Cal.

SACRAMENTO
Robert Paylor joins the Rugby Bears from perennial pipeline Jesuit High School outside of Sacramento. In 2014 and 2015, the Marauders were Northern California champions the national runner-up in single-school competition. The Jesuit rugby program is managed Fred Khasigian, a former U.S. international rugby player and father of former Bear All-Americans Kirk and Kyle Khasigian, with Kirk also a former U.S. international. Hailing from El Dorado Hills, Calif., Paylor is a 6-5, 233-pound lock who played two years of varsity rugby at Jesuit, serving as captain for head coach John Shorey and earning MVP honors. Paylor attended the Nike Cal Varsity Rugby Camp in 2014. In addition to his rugby prowess, Paylor was an eight-time academic honors student at Jesuit, where he graduated magna cum laude and also played French horn and served as a conductor for the symphonic and pep bands. On the gridiron, Paylor was a first-team all-league and honorable mention all-metro selection as a two-way lineman who captained the Jesuit football team as a senior. He received a Scholar Athlete Award and Athletic Director Award prior to graduation. Paylor’s mother, Debbie, is a sales representative for Abbvie, a pharmaceutical company; his father, Jeff, is a senior sales manager at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals. Both are graduates of Sacramento State. Paylor’s maternal aunt, Charissa Horne (née Johnson), is a Cal alumna. His cousin Lyndsay Carpenter plays lacrosse at Wheeling Jesuit University. Paylor is considering business and economics as possible fields of study at the University.

SIERRA HOOTHILLS
Former Nike Cal Varsity Rugby Camp attendee Tyler Douglas is a 6-0, 218-pound front-row player who has arrived at the alma mater of his mother, Jennifer Osur Douglas, a two-sport Golden Bear who played varsity basketball and softball, and was the 1989 National Collegiate Cycling Track Omnium Champion while at Cal. Other University alumni in his family are a grandfather, a cousin and two aunts, one of whom is softball alumna Jill Osur. Mrs. Osur Douglas is now a personal trainer while Tyler’s father, Wally, is a USC alumnus and the Sacramento district manager for Farmers Insurance. Douglas was a 4.0 student at Granite Bay High School and starting offensive lineman in football for the Grizzlies. Douglas received multiple Coaches Choice awards as a forward for the Granite Bay area rugby club between 2009-15 and helped his varsity side make its first-ever trip in the spring of 2015 to the national championships, where Granite Bay advanced to the championship final under head coach Jason Divine. His play on the rugby pitch made him a Sac Valley All-Star in 2014. Douglas is considering business for his undergraduate studies.

LOS ANGELES
Cormac Heaney is a 6-2, 210-pound lock and flanker who excelled for the Santa Monica Rugby Club at the U-16 and U-18 levels over eight years as a member of those teams, on which he was coached by Cal rugby parent Charlie Lydon. In 2014, the Santa Monica U-18s were runners-up at the National Invitation Tournament. Heaney’s teams also won the California State 7s Games in 2013 and Serevi Cup Sevens in 2013 and ’14. Heaney was a SoCal Griffins All-Star selection from 2012-15 and participated in the High School All-American winter camp in 2014. At Loyola High School, he also competed in soccer and baseball. His father, Anthony, is an Associate Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine and co-chief of Endocrinology at UCLA, a Fulbright scholar and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (UK) who received his medical degree (MB, ChB, BAO) from Queen's University of Belfast in Ireland and doctorate degree (PhD) from Queen's University. Dr. Heaney captained the Queens University track & field team as a javelin thrower. Heaney’s mother, Brigid, graduated from the University of Ulster and works as a production manager in the fashion industry. Heaney’s uncle Liam Heaney and cousin John McGran are both accomplished Gaelic Football players. His brother, John, is an undergraduate at NYU who also played rugby for Santa Monica. Their grandfather Dennis Conolly was a flyhalf on the 1947 Leinster School champions from Castlenock College Dublin before playing wing for the North of Ireland rugby club. Heaney is interested in business, political science and environmental design as potential areas of study.

SAN DIEGO
Joining the Bears from Southern California is the 6-0, 196-pound Agustin Centurion, a flyhalf and fullback who was born in Argentina, grew up in San Diego and played rugby for both his high school team, High Tech High, and area team, the San Diego Aztecs Youth Club, captaining both and earning Best Back recognition for multiple seasons. A U.S. passport holder, he graduated High Tech High School with a perfect GPA and served as a Teen Ambassador for Junior Achievement San Diego. As a member of the Southern California Griffin all-stars, Centurion made the 2013 Rocky Mountain Challenge all-tournament team and served as captain on its tour to British Columbia for the Victoria International Sevens. Centurion’s father, Alcides, is the owner of A&A Shoes and a graduate of the IAE Business School in Bueno Aires; his mother, Analia, is graduate of Mesa College and owner of an interior-design company called The Workshop. Centurion’s father, uncle and grandfather all played rugby for Club Universitario Del Nordeste in Argentina. Centurion is considering an academic focus in business administration. 

WASHINGTON D.C.
From the 2014 and ’15 High School National Champion Gonzaga College High School comes the 6-1, 255-pound front-rower Jack Iscaro, who was raised in Olney, Md. Iscaro was born in Germany to mother Patricia, an attorney who earned her undergraduate degree at the College of Mount Vincent and law degree from Rutgers, and father Paolo, a certified emergency and incident manager with Top Secret government clearance at the federal, state and local levels, as well as in the private sector. A graduate of the Universitia de Sapienza in Rome, Mr. Iscaro played rugby for the National Team of Italy and is also the forwards coach at Gonzaga, where he works with head coach Peter Baggetta. The Iscaros have an older son, Andrew, who plays rugby for Penn State. Uncle Marco Iscaro also played international rugby for Italy. Jack was a USA Rugby High School All-American and All-Metro selection three times during his Gonzaga career, playing on both championship teams as well as the national runner-up side of 2013. He served as captain of the Purple Eagles as a senior and played additional club rugby with the Maryland Exiles. He wrestled as a varsity heavyweight as a junior. In the classroom, Iscaro achieved honors all four years of high school. 

CONNECTICUT
Jack Weigold arrives at the University from Riverside, Conn., having served as co-captain for his Greenwich High School team, which was crowned state champion in 2015 on its way to the consolation final of the National High School Championships in Charlottesville, Va. Now standing at 6-1 and 209 pounds, Weigold started for the U.S. U-17s in their tour of Portugal and France in 2014. He and fellow East Coast future Cal Bear Jack Iscaro squared off in April representing their respective schools at the Jesuit High Schools Tournament in Leesburg, Va. In addition to his rugby career at Greenwich, where he was named the 2015 team MVP under head coach Joe Kelly, Weigold captained the Cardinals varsity football and was named first-team all-county in 2014. He also competed in shot put for the Greenwich HS varsity track & field team. His father, John, graduated from the United States Naval Academy and is now a Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy and deputy director of the J3-MA U.S. Pacific Command; his mother, Mary Elizabeth, is an elementary school teacher and graduate of the University of Dayton. 

FIVE PLAYERS, TWO U.S. CITIZENS, FROM OVERSEAS
Troy Lockyear returns to Cal after being named Best & Fairest at the 2014 Nike Cal Varsity Rugby Camp and commences his undergraduate career as a 6-2, 172-pound center/fullback from Heversham, England. Lockyear was captain of his 7s team and vice-captain of the 15s team at Eton College, where he also captained the track & field team as a 400m and 800m competitor, and played soccer and cricket. Off the pitch he was House Prefect and recipient of A grades in 18 of the 20 courses he took as a junior and senior. His play on the rugby pitch brought him to the London Wasps Academy, where he started as a fullback, and earned Lockyear county representative rugby selections from 2010-15. Lockyear is also a professional magician whose skills can be seen online. His mother, Leslie, is an interior decorator who graduated from Cambridge; his father, Sean, is a hotel and restaurant owner. 

Also coming to Cal from the United Kingdom is U.S. passport holder Fawzi Kawash, a 5-9, 163-pound center, scrumhalf and vice-captain of the First XV every year of high school at St. Paul’s School in London. In 2014 St. Paul’s won the plate at the Schools’ Six Nations Tournament and finished as the runner-up at the 2014 and ’15 Tynedal Rugby Festivals. Kawash also played representative youth rugby for Middlesex County and the London Wasps Academy. In the classroom, he was the recipient of six teacher commendations and three principal awards at St. Paul’s, as well as national recognition is the form of UK commendations for math and physics. Kawash also captained varsity soccer and competed in track & field as a 100-meter sprinter for St. Paul’s, where he was a prefect. His play on the soccer pitch, with nine years of play also notched with local club Barnes Eagles, earned representative youth selections from London and the English Southeast Region. Kawash found time for other extracurricular activities including the Entrepreneurial Society, which he founded; the Asian Society, where he served as vice president; Physics Society, as its secretary; the Modern Languages Society; and community service. His parents, Anmar and Haleh, both graduated from Tufts University. Mrs. Kawash is a homemaker. Mr. Kawash is the Global COO of INTO University Partnerships, an education management company. Fawzi’s great grandfather Fakhri Kubba graduated in 1939 as one of the first members of the International House; his great uncle Wayil Kubba graduated in 1964. Kawash, is considering studies in business, economics and computer science.

Elliot Webb comes to Cal from the Tonbridge School in Kent, England, following the same pathway traveled by his brother Russell, a senior who was the Bears’ MVP at the 2014 PAC 7s Rugby Championship and a 2015 All-America honorable mention for 15s. Fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese, Webb hails from Happy Valley, Hong Kong, where he also attended the German Swiss International School before graduating from Tonbridge in 2015. At Tonbridge, where he also started on the soccer team, Webb played No. 9, 10 and 15, and was a member of the 7s squad that advanced to the national final of the 2015 Rosslyn Park Sevens. A former attendee of the Nike Cal Varsity Rugby Camp who checks in at 5-10 and 175 pounds, the younger Webb is slated to play flyhalf and center for the Blue and Gold. Elliot competed for Hong Kong National Team at the U-19 and U-20 levels, helping his side win a gold medal at the 2013 Asian Youth Games. Both his parents attended Manchester University: his mother, Vivien, is a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley in Private Wealth Management for Asia and his father, Lawrence, was head of global management at HSBC before founding his own business, A-Trade Finance Limited. Mr. Webb played rugby as a back at Manchester University and Reigate Rugby Club in Surrey. The Webbs’ eldest child, Adam, also played rugby at Cornell University.

Nic Mirhashem is an American citizen who has embarked on his Cal education on U.S. soil after graduating from The British School of Barcelona, Spain. A flanker who stands at 5-11 and 192 pounds, Mirhashem has played representative rugby in both 7s and 15s, earning appearances with the U.S. High School All-Americans in the Olympic style of rugby and the Spanish U-18s in 15s. He also captained the 2012 state champion U-16s and 2014 state finalist U-18 team for Rugby Club Stiges in Spain, where he also earned match-days captaincies in the Spanish Second Division on the Stiges Men’s XV. At the British School of Barcelona, Mirhashem was a member of the Student Council, Deputy Head Boy and Head of School Sports and Charity in additional to two years of varsity soccer and basketball, respectively. He is proficient in five languages. His father, Ali, is a graduate of Leeds and Cranfield Universities who works as the CEO of Marine Food & Fine Food and Caviar Investment. Mr. Mirhashem competed in tennis and cricket for Leeds. Nic’s mother, Goli, graduated from the University of Barcelona and is the managing director of Marine Food & Fine Food. His cousin Alex Benham swims for Cal Poly. Mirhashem is considering the pursuit of a business degree at the University.

Ben Casey arrives at the University from Auckland, New Zealand, where he competed as a back-rower for Sacred Heart College, an Auckland 1A semi-finalist his senior year. A three-sport athlete and 2014 Sportsman of the Year at Sacred Heart, having also captained the water polo team and started for the cricket team, Casey was a high achiever off the pitch, too, earning a 4.0 GPA, Endorsements of Excellence and the title of deputy head prefect. Casey, who also played two seasons of basketball at Sacred Heart and enters Cal standing at 6-3 and 211 pounds, was born in Melbourne, Australia, and has relocated to Boston, Mass. He is expected to play as a flanker for the Rugby Bears. Casey’s mother, Kate, is an interior designer who graduated from St. Mary’s College in Wellington, N.Z.; his father, Warren, is a graduate of St. Patrick’s College, Silverstream, N.Z., who obtained his MBA from Massey University and is now the CEO of Weka Solutions, an information technology company. Mr. Casey played rugby for Auckland Marist and was a member of the team that won the Gallaher Shield with several current and future All Blacks. Ben’s uncle Michael Casey is a scrum coach who has worked with Samoa, the Auckland Blues, other provincial teams and one on one with current All Black front-row forwards. Another uncle, Andrew Casey, worked with Ben’s father to bring provincial sides to Bangkok and Singapore for international club competition. Also on a grandfather’s side of the family is Allan Sutherland, a New Zealand All Black No. 8 in the late 1960s and early ’70s. Casey is considering a business degree at the University followed by the pursuit of an MBA.

The fall season of Olympic Rugby 7s kicks off the 2015-16 year when the Bears travel to the West Coast 7s at Cal Poly on October 10. That event is followed by the Autumn 7s hosted by Cal on October 24 followed by the PAC Rugby 7s Championship on Witter Rugby Field November 7-8 before the spring 15s season commences in January.