The Chuckanut U15 boys team not only won the Washington State Games U15 Rugby 7s championship on Sunday, they clinched early and dominated the competition.

Chuckanut had the gold medal wrapped up well in advance of the final game, and coach Darin Hamm said that’s because of team unity.

“We’ve got some experienced kids who go to the same school and decided to stick together

to play rugby during the summer,” said Hamm. “They are a good group of talented players - really athletic. Often they’re outsized, but they play together well and spend time together off the field.

They practice hard, are fit, and don’t have a lot of weaknesses.”

The summer’s roster included:

Julien Fitzstrawn

Mel Ketteridge

Jeremy Samuelson

Tommy Davenport

Zachary Tucker

Alex Cleary

Declan McGhee

Ian Martinez

Kirk Alford

Nick Slaughter

Cole Semu

Damian Baker

Towner Goodman

Sebastion Serrano

Bryan Castellano

Age-grade rules in most leagues are such that you need to be under the age listed at the beginning of the school year, but of course can still play if you have (in this case) your 15th birthday during the season.

Only three players had turned 15 by August 2, when the final tournament was held, and two are still 13.

“Several of these kids are going into their freshman year and will be part of the Chuckanut program,” said Hamm. “This is going to be a great group to watch at Chuckanut.”