Seedings Finalized for HS National Championships
Seedings Finalized for HS National Championships
The Boys HS Rugby National Championships has finalized its brackets for the 2022 tournament.
The tournament itself will be held May 19-21 at the Moose Rugby Grounds in Elkhart, Ind.
Teams applied to be considered for the tournament, and received acceptances based on their performance over a period of years and also this year. The teams were then seeded based on their results this spring, with the top eight school teams entering the Single-School Bracket, and the top eight club teams entering the HS Club Bracket. The eight teams not put into those brackets enter Tier II. Traditionally the Tier II had been enormously competitive, and often winners move up to the top tier in later years. This is the case for the San Diego Mustangs, who are seeded ?? in the Club bracket this time around.
Little surprise that St. Ignatius is the #1-seeded school team. Ignatius has been ranked #1 by GRR for much of the spring, although De La Salle holds that distinction at the moment. (De La Salle is not at Nationals because the weekend of May 20 is their graduation). Also it is of little shock that Granite Bay is the #1 seed for HS Clubs. Granite Bay has been ranked #1 by GRR for 10 weeks in a row.
The competition is tough, however. The defending national champion school team, Herriman, is seeded #3, while the defending club team, Thunder, is in Tier II this year.
Here are the seedings:
Single-School Division:
1: St. Ignatius, Cleveland, Ohio
2: Gonzaga College HS, Washington DC
3: Herriman HS, Herriman, Utah
4: St. Thomas Aquinas, Overland Park, Kans.
5: Jesuit Sacramento, Sacramento, Calif.
6: Staples HS, Staples, Conn.
7: Greenwich HS, Greenwich, Conn.
8. Xavier HS, New York City
HS Club Division:
1: Granite Bay, Placer County, Calif.
2: Woodlands, The Woodlands, Texas
3: Belmont Shore, Long Beach, Calif.
4: United, Alpine, Utah
5: San Diego Mustangs, San Diego, Calif.
6: Aspetuck, Fairfield County, Conn.
7: Tempe, Tempe, Ariz.
8: SOC Raptors, Orange County, Calif.
Tier II Division:
1: Royal Irish, Indianapolis, Ind.
2: Thunder Rugby, Carlsbad, Calif.
3: Vienna Rugby, Vienna, Va.
4: Penn HS, Mishawaka, Ind.
5: Raleigh Redhawks, Raleigh, NC
6: Pendleton Rugby, Pendleton, Ind.
7: Bishop Dwenger, Fort Wayne, Ind.
8: Charlotte Tigers, Charlotte, NC
Brackets
This means that the first round of games on May 18 are as follows (all times Eastern Time):
Single-School Division
#1 St. Ignatius vs #8 Xavier (4:30PM)
#4 St. Thomas Aquinas vs #5 Jesuit of Sacramento (6PM)
#2 Gonzaga vs #7 Greenwich (6:30PM)
#3 Herriman vs #6 Staples (6:15PM)
HS Club Division
#1 Granite Bay vs #8 SOC Raptors (2:15PM)
#4 United vs San Diego Mustangs (2:30PM)
#2 Woodlands vs #7 Tempe (4:15PM)
#3 Belmont Shore vs #6 Aspetuck (4PM)
Tier II
#1 Royal Irish vs #8 Charlotte Tigers (2PM)
#4 Penn HS vs #5 Raleigh Redhawks (12:30PM)
#2 Thunder vs #7 Bishop Dwenger (12 Noon)
#3 Vienna vs #6 Pendleton (12:15PM)
