Lyons roar in rugby
By Hannah Benoit
The Wheaton College men's rugby players are kings of the scrum this year, having defeated Colby-Sawyer and Maine Maritime Academy in the Division IV New England championship on Nov. 1 and 2.
The New England Rugby Football Union title crowned an undefeated regular season in which the Lyons went 5-0 against Curry, Nichols and Massachusetts Maritime Academy. In their final game of the season on Oct. 25, the team trounced Nichols College 45-7 before an enthusiastic Homecoming weekend crowd.
In the NERFU tournament, held at Attitash Bear Park in Attitash, N.H., the Lyons overcame Colby-Sawyer in the semi-final by a score of 33-7, then went on to defeat Maine Maritime 10-0 for the championship. Scoring in the decisive game were team captain Christopher Cote '04 and Dustin Grinnell '06.
The men's rugby club was established at Wheaton about eight years ago, according to team spokesman Jean Transtamar '04. "A lot of what drives us is self-determination and the will to succeed," he said. "We hope our accomplishments will improve the reputation and status of future Wheaton rugby players as well as the popularity of and respect for the game as a whole."
The winning season was all the sweeter for the Lyons since they will be graduating eight seniors in 2004, seven of whom have been playing since their freshman year. The team will be honored at an awards banquet this month and then go on to further play in the spring (unofficial) season. They are also looking forward to competing in the Beast of the East tournament in Rhode Island, one of the largest rugby tournaments in the region.
"In my four years on the team, we have yet to conquer that beast and win our division," said Transtamar, "though we have come very close."
Perhaps 2004 will be their year.
