Atlantis Teams Bring Hardware Back from Grenada
Atlantis Teams Bring Hardware Back from Grenada
Atlantis Rugby sent a men's team and a women's team to the Grenada Rugby World 7s in the first weekend of December, sending both teams to their respective finals.
Overall, Atlantis teams finished 10-2, with the women finishing 2nd in their bracket and the men finishing 1st.
Women Take 2nd
The women played in the opening match of the tournament and came away with a 12-7 victory over Les Blues. They followed that up with three more victories; 45-0 over Find Rugby Now, 24-5 over Caribbean Queens, and 26-7 over Rugby Quebec to finish 4-0 on Day 1 of the tournament.
On Day 2 the Atlantis women stumbled were upended in their final pool play match with a 14-7 loss to the Redshirts. Despite this, they had done well enough to make the Championship match.
In that final they faced, once again, Rugby Quebec, and this time les Quebecois produced a massive defensive effort, defeating Atlantis 10-0.
Men Take the Cup
The Atlantis men made it through Day 1 undefeated, earning victories over Guyana (29-0), Find Rugby Now (45-10), and the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force (26-12).
On Day 2 they kept it up with a very good win over Misfits 14-5. That set up a semifinal match with the Barbados national team, which Atlantis won in impressive fashion 17-0.
That led to a rematch with the Misfits in the final, and in a close match Atlantis won 17-10.
Overall the Atlantis men went 6-0 with 148 points scored and 37 while the women went 4-2 with 114 points scored and 43.
For their efforts the men were awarded The Stag Beer Winners Trophy and the women earned The Umbrellas Beach Bar Finalists Trophy. Seneca Friend was awarded The Chantel MacLean Most Promising Female Player Trophy.
The Atlantis effort was run by tour manager Dan Whetzel and the founder of Atlantis Rugby, Emil Signes, whose influence over high-level 7s in the USA can hardly be overstated, was on hand to observe and advise.
For more about the Atlantis 7s touring program go to: https://www.atlantisrugby.com/
Team Rosters
Atlantis Women:
Jess Dombrowski
Seneca Friend
Ricci Hennig
Roni Houck
Cienna Jordan
Kim Mendoza
Teree Okabe
Brittany Royes
Did van der Gon
Abby Vestal
Taylor White
Mackenzie Wood
Coach Lauren Trout
Assistant Coach Megan Sanders
Atlantis Men:
Corey Jones
Jabari Johnson
Jake Soriano
Jim Rosato Jr
Kyle Hegarty
Mitch Vannoy
Niall Carlson
Nick Dangelo
Patrick Madden
Quinn Wester
Riley Giles
Nick Argy
Coach Chris Ryan
Assistant Coach Adam Dick
Tour Contributors.
The following people donated to make the tour possible.
Sarah Sall
Dan Whetzel
David McPhail
Jack Heidelberger
Marsh Pennington
Mary Pennington
Matt Szkotak
Perry Pence
Ty Anderson
Stephanie Kaiser
Jim Rosato Sr, Esq.
Rob Sanderson
Nadine Hegarty
Taylor Black
Jade Cabrera
Lacey Scott
Mitch Vannoy's unborn child "Mitchell Durango Boarson Vannoy"