United World Sports has announced that it has added a second open qualifier for the Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) 7s tournament - the Heart of America Classic.

The CRC will be held June 3-4, 2017 in Chester, Pa., and features 20 top collegiate men's 7s programs, as well as satellite high school and women's college events. The CRC is basically an invitational, with the teams involved chosen based on their 7s ability, but also either how recognized the program's name is in the broader world of college sports, or how many fans they can bring to the event.

Previously, the CRC has had only one open qualifier, being the Las Vegas Invitational. Central Washington University won the first LVY CRC Qualifier in 2011, and Life University did the same in 2012. Despite the success of the qualifier and the success of the teams that earned qualification, the qualifier plan was ditched in 2013 and 2014, only to be revived for the 2015 LVI. That year, Arkansas State won a spot at the LVI, and this past year Utah won.

The CRC Qualifier at the LVI has been a thrilling tournament in and of itself, with a large field of teams and plenty of interest from around the country. This coming spring, with the full CRC tournament expanding to 24 teams, a second tournament will be added to the list of qualifiers, with the Heart of America Classic offering colleges the chance to get a spot in the main June tournament. The HOA Classic will be held March 25-26, 2017 (location to be confirmed). Already the following teams have committed to play - Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa State, Oklahoma, and Lindenwood-Belleville.

"We’re excited to have the Heart of America Classic as another Penn Mutual CRC qualifier," said tournament director Jon Hinkin. "We believe that the teams represented in this tournament are of strong quality. Couple that with this being another open qualifier, along with the LVI, gives us the potential inclusion of as many universities as possible within USA Rugby’s collegiate landscape." 

Go here for the HOA: http://www.kcrugbytourneys.com/Default.aspx?tabid=704010

And here for the LVI: www.lvirugby.com