The PR 7s kicks off its three-tournament series this coming weekend with the stop in San Jose, followed by Washington DC a week later, and Austin, Texas on July 30.

This concept has already produced a couple of players who have received time in the USA 7s system, and with the series going strong for women as well as men its equal-opportunity approach has been received well.

It’s a smart move by the domestic professional 7s series, which this year features four teams—the Experts, Headliners, Loggerheads, and Loonies—for both men and women.

Here’s a look at the women's teams, with special notice of any recent college or high school standouts:

Experts 

Summer Harris-Jones is a Life University product who took a massive step in her development when she was in the American Rugby Pro Training Center (ARPTC) residency program. She’s now the captain. There’s more Life University influence in the side with capped Eagle Kaitlyn Broughton, a fast and very physical presence, and Christina Swift, who did the Life-ARPTC thing as well.

More former D1 Elite players are on the Experts.  

Amanada Berta, a self-described “hippie who’s good at match” is also a Penn State product who can play almost anywhere. Spencer Boldt is a snappy Canadian scrumhalf out of Central Washington. 

Life’s main rivals, Lindenwood, have some grads on the Experts side, with Morgan Freeman, who was a standout at the old CRC some years ago, and the aggressive and hugely smart Caring de Freitas able to beat players in a phone booth or out on the highway.

Cortney Kuehl is an excellent example of how great players can come out of college programs that don’t get a lot of press. Kuehl played for Central Florida, which was a pretty good team that lost in the collegiate playoffs to Life by more than 100 points back in 2018. But Kuehl was obviously a talent and was starting for the Atlanta Harlequins just a couple of months later.  Soon she was in elite 7s programs and now is seasoned veteran. 

Chico State (Kayla Lawson), and Dartmouth (former captain Camille Johnson) are also represented. (Update! Lawson is on the DL and Life University All American and multiple Sorensen nominee Su Adegoke suits up instead.) 

And there’s a solid Canadian presence, too, not just with Boldt but with Keely Mazzolini-Flynn, Lauryn Bons, and Emerald Maze. The international factor extends to Soneva Scott (capped by Ireland), and Tyra Norlander (capped by Sweden).

As for veteran leadership, it’s hard to do much better than Evan Hoese, who has been at the forefront of championship 7s for the better part of a decade since her graduation from Harvard.

Headliners 

Naya Tapper and Abby Gustaitis co-captain this side and she’s famous so we won’t spend too much time on them—they know what they’re doing.

There are other players who have been capped (Alena Olsen, U. Michigan alum, Nicole Strasko, Life University) or are very close (BYU’s Rachel Strasdas). But it’s actually the varied journey of each player that’s of interest. Taejah Thompson is a Dinosaur—as in, University of Calgary Dinos. Lindsey Mahoney played at Arizona State and while she continues to play she is also coaching Grand Canyon University, which takes some doing. Jenn Salomon helped blaze the trail for the success of the Quinnipiac program and, by extension, the growth of the NCAA varsity movement. 

Scout Cheeks was a standout in 7s for Penn State, then played in D2 club before moving on.

Emma Farnan was a player who GRR saw in a game between Notre Dame and Davenport. While Davenport was in control, Farnan, for UND, was definitely a “hey, who’s that?” kind of player and we actually tracked to her down to talk about rugby, and her PhD studies.

Laura Hurff is a convert from field hockey, a switch we’ve seen before in 7s rugby and one that has often gone well. Dana Maschisi—who is a strength and conditioning coach so she won’t brook any excuses from anyone—was a rugby All American at Florida State but really developed her game with the San Siego Surfers. That’s a story many could tell, finding a team and a family and a chance to develop within a strong club environment.

Watch out for Annakren Pedraza. Now going by “AK” for short, Padraza was a comet across the sky for Lindenwood and helped jump-start their dominance in 7s. She was basically Caring DeFreitas (above) before Caring DeFreitas was Caring DeFreitas.