Atlantis had a fruitful Thanksgiving weekend, as the all-star 7s team went 3-1 to win the New York 7s Girls High School Premier division. The men also won the Men's College division.

For the U18s, the day started with a tough 19-15 loss to Canada’s Niagara Rugby Union, but it foretold the competitiveness of the final. Leaning on the leadership of captain Michel Navarro, Atlantis rebounded with two shutout wins – 43-0 vs. Team Quebec U18s and 36-0 vs. Play Rugby USA – to advance to the title match. Niagara progressed to the Cup final as well, and the teams ended regulation tied at 12. Fallbrook's Lilly Durbin snapped that standstill with a 60-meter break and tournament-winning try, 19-12.

“This was some of the best team-play rugby I have seen,” Atlantis U18s coach Billy Nicholas praised. “There wasn't one clear standout. Lilly came up massive for the team in the final with the dagger to end it, but on the day, they really all played off one another so well. It was great to see the group go from a slow start in game one to really just firing on all cylinders by the end of the day. The end product of the championship was great, but I think the team and myself most enjoyed the climb there.”

There was a lot of experience in that 12-player squad. Players not only competed at the international, national, and regional levels, but also played alongside (and against) each other. Nicholas brought four players apiece from California, Colorado, and the East Coast, but there were a lot of shared credentials between the selected.

The highest-profile players came from Fallbrook (Calif.). Captain Navarro competed at the Youth Olympic Games and played flanker for the Women’s Junior All Americans against the Canada U20s this summer. Fellow Warrior Lilly Durbin is also a WJAA and earned her stripes against Canada in 2014 when only a sophomore in high school.

The pair know fellow Southern Californians Brianna Vasquez and Naomi Mitzner well – not only through league play but also all-star tournaments with the SoCal Griffins. Vasquez, like Durbin and Navarro, knows her way around the Olympic Training Center and was the youngest attendee at last summer’s high school high-performance camp.

Delia Hellander was at that same OTC assembly. The Morris 15s and NJ Blaze 7s player is arguably her home teams’ most effective weapon. She paired nicely with teammate Jordan Cowan, who competed on Atlantis’ first U16 team at the 2015 Las Vegas Invitational. Cowan was joined by fellow founding members Emily Henrich, a High School All American out of Orchard Park, N.Y.; and Elizabeth Wilson, a two-time Stars & Stripes attendee out of West End, Va. Henrich and Wilson also represent Morris’ two main rivals: the former played for 7s rival Doylestown in the High School Rugby Challenge, and the latter is a loose forward for 15s rival West End.

But the tightest unit came out of Colorado, as Summit High School sent four players in  Meg Rose and Jodi Losch (the only returners from last year's NY 7s Plate-winning team), Natalie Gray, and Cassidy Bargell. The quartet is not only fresh off its 15s league season but also celebrating another Colorado State Championship earned this fall.

All-star teams, All American tours, OTC camps – the 12 players present in New York City last weekend are working at the top level of the high school scene, and it showed on Saturday.

Results
Pool: Atlantis 15-19 Niagara Rugby Union (Canada)
Pool: Atlantis 43-0 Team Quebec U18
Cup Semifinal: Atlantis 32-0 Play Rugby USA
Cup Final: Atlantis 17-12 Niagara

Atlantis U18s, 2015 New York 7s
Cassidy Bargell – Summit (CO)
Jordan Cowan – Morris (NJ)
Lilly Durbin – Fallbrook (CA)
Natalie Gray – Summit (CO)
Delia Hellander – Morris (NJ)
Emily Henrich – Orchard Park (NY)
Jodi Losch – Summit (CO)
Naomi Mitzner – Fullerton (CA)
Michel Navarro – Fallbrook (CA)
Meg Rose – Summit (CO)
Brianna Vasquez – Fullerton (CA)
Elizabeth Wilson – West End (VA)