The 27th annual UW-Platteville Women’s Rugby tournament named “Mudfest,” a highly anticipated event and tradition on campus, happened on April 6. All games were played on Miner’s field in Platteville, WI.
Participants included two teams each from UW-Platteville, Loyola University and Winona University, and one team each from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, UW-Whitewater, UW-Stevens Point and UW-Stout. All teams were separated into four pools with three games per pool. After pool play games were played, teams were directed into a winners’ or consolation bracket.
In the winners’ bracket, UW-La Crosse won first place beating Loyola University 1 in the championship. UW-Platteville 1 won against UW-Stevens Point for a third-place finish. In the consolation bracket, UIUC won playing UW-Stout in the final game.
Mudfest is a tradition to the UW-Platteville campus as it marks the start to the UW-Platteville Women’s Rugby Sevens spring games. “Mudfest has been going on for a lot longer than any of us been around. It was something that the first rugby teams and the school did as a reoccurring tradition for the first week of April,” sophomore Rowynn “Minnie” Whyte said.
The Women’s Rugby season is played in two sections: the Fifteens, which is played during the fall semester; and the Sevens, played during the spring semester.
“Fifteens is played with 15 players on each side of the ball who compete for 80-minutes (two 40 minute halves) in individual matches through the year … Sevens is played with seven players on each side of the ball who compete for 14-minutes (two seven-minute halves) in tournaments with up to three matches per competition day,” USA Rugby states.
During the fall 2023 semester, multiple UW-Platteville team members were recognized by the National Collegiate Rugby organization as All-Americans: Front Row Emma “V. Mary” Callaghan, Second Row Shea “Butter” Mineau, Back Row Mckenna “Pebbles” Dutton, Back Row Selena “Skull Crusher” Bodedein and Center Sydney “Vicious” Kaluzny.
Upcoming for the UW-Platteville Women’s Rugby team are the Qualifiers in Oshkosh for a chance at Regionals.