There are a few debutantes at this year’s Women’s College 7s Championship. The competition welcomes west coast additions UC Davis and Humboldt, which were both spring 15s playoff teams, as well as Rutgers, which represents one of two teams located north of the Mason Dixon line. And then there’s Montana State, which until this spring, hadn’t made much noise on the national or regional scene.

Four years ago, current Montana State women's rugby president Kelsie Maricelli helped resurrect a then-defunct team, and sustained the ranks by attaining a unique classification of club. The team was affiliated with Montana State but was not an official sports club, and therefore only 80% of its members needed to be current students. Community members filled out the roster; however, that barred the team from inclusion in any USA Rugby league or championship.

After a few years as the Bozeman Whitetail, the student-run club needed a head coach, so they turned to MSU men’s backs coach – and both teams’ faculty advisor – Ed McKenna to lead them. And he did.

“The women were happy with me coaching, so I started introducing some big plans for the club,” McKenna said. “I asked if they were on board, and they were.”

McKenna encouraged the team to become an official sports club, which meant bidding farewell to community teammates and going through a lengthy process before eventually being called Bobcats.

“There’s always some concern,” McKenna spoke to the transition. “Players were worried that it would become too competitive and not as fun. Or that it’d cost too much. I introduced dues – which are minimal – and started alleviating concerns.”

The next step was joining a league. McKenna reached out to Amy Rusert of the Rocky Mountain conference, and the Colorado College coach was very helpful during the indoctrination process. With the fall season already underway, Rusert and Air Force’s Lisa Rosen encouraged Montana State to join the spring 7s circuit.

“We already had some 15s matches scheduled, and we had so many new players come out in the spring,” McKenna said. “I knew I wanted to play 7s, but 15s is a good way to get everyone to learn the game. So we started with 15s in early March, hosted a small 7s tournament with Utah State, Idaho State, and Betterside. Then played Gonzaga in 15s a couple of weeks ago. I’m not sure how well that served us – going back and forth between 15s and 7s – but we’ll play 7s in the spring going forward. That’s how our conference is aligned, too.”

Montana State made room on its schedule for a couple of Rocky Mountain 7s series tournaments – the opener at Colorado State, and another at Idaho State. It was a busy season, but the players were up for it.

“I could have posed a drive to a tournament in Delaware, and they all would have said, ‘Yes,’” McKenna laughed.

McKenna treated each event as a tryout for the team that would compete at the automatic 7s qualifier, held at Air Force last weekend. Unfortunately, the team wasn’t able to put out its best lineup, as a hiccup in communication found the team driving through the night for the Friday-Saturday tournament, as opposed to the traditional Saturday-Sunday format.

Montana finished third, losing to eventual champ BYU and host Air Force, but banked redeeming wins against Utah State.

“There was a bit of an intimidation factor when we played BYU,” McKenna said. “They are exceptional, but they’re also physically big; we’re on the smaller side. They would spread the field and get it to their number 11 [Chanel Johnstun], and that would be it. We’d been practicing that [tactic], but we have to get it out quicker. But our team was resilient in the loss. We had to play Utah State for the Plate and we beat them by 20 points. They bounced back from what could have been a deflating loss, and that really impressed me.”

The competition was important because now Montana State has some insight into what nationals might be like, and that even the most intimidating players hit the ground when they’re tackled. In Denver, the team will see the return of Charleen Mackey and Maricelli, who were unable to attend the Piper Cup when the departure times changed. They’re two of several players who played a lot of high school rugby. Ivanna Lopez-Bell was a Washington Logger and has ample 7s experience; Courtney Kawamoto played with one of Oregon’s top teams, Grant; and Ali Bard has some high school experience. They buoy a team where everyone else is in their first or second season of playing rugby.

“I’m really lucky,” McKenna said. “None of these women came to Montana State for rugby. They came here because Bozeman is beautiful, and has world-class skiing, or for a major – but not for a rugby program that was playing socially.”

Montana State is now more than active – it’s nationals bound – and they’re readying themselves for a major benchmark in the team’s history.

“We want to be competitive,” McKenna explained the short-term goals. “You don’t want to accept a bid to nationals and have teams roll over you. It’s embarrassing. We want to win, but maintain a realistic perspective. Sevens is a different game; it’s about speed and fitness, and anything can happen with that combo.

“As for a bigger goal, this is huge for our program,” the coach added. “This is our first year, we’re at a disadvantage in terms of what we can offer [new recruits], so this is a huge opportunity for us to get our name out there.”

The college 7s championship occurs May 23-24 in Denver. The pools have yet to be announced, but click here to read more about the 16-team field.