Ruggers Gear up for 2002-03 Season

Right: Captain Jeremiah Wright advances the ball vs. Athlone Institute of Technology during the March 2002 rugby club tour of Ireland.

by Dave Wheelock, Rugby coach

SOCORRO, N.M., Aug. 20, 2002 -- Hard work under the hot sun is the order of the day for the 2002-2003 edition of the New Mexico Tech Rugby Club, as team members clear out the summer cobwebs in anticipation of another fall season. Tech opens with the Santa Fe Tens Tournament on September 1, leaving little time to prepare for students returning to classes on August 27.

It’s now or never for a team heavy with upper classmen. Tech lost just three players to graduation last May, but two of those players, Joe Hart and Jason Lennane, played prop forward, the two positions traditionally hardest to fill in a rugby squad. The two props, who form the foundation of the set scrum, must be very strong and possessed of a rare sort of ‘controlled aggression’. The third graduate, Israel Vaughn, will also be missed, yet the club is hopeful one of his understudies will step up to fill his shoes. Among the hopefuls are Robert Harrison, Miguel Provencio, Paul Quintana, Casey Fagley, and Zach Hibdon.

Leading the team again this season will be senior captain Jeremiah Wright of Raton, NM. Wright stabilized Tech’s back line last year at one of the two center positions. Katsuya Sugimoto of Tochigi, Japan leads the field of candidates for flyhalf, pivotal first position in the back line. High-scorings senior wing Mike Bauer rejoins the stable of backs, as does Patrick Simons, who made an impression as a freshman last year.

Much will depend on the ball-winning capabilities of the forward eight, with club president Mark Kelly providing hustling leadership at flanker. Firm on the opposite side of the scrum is the hard-nosed flanker Nick Ledesma. Local wildfire investigator Rob Miller, Tech’s lone non-student member, brings maturity and hardness to the front row at hooker. High-leaping Brook Jilek of Portales, NM will be entrusted to win lineout (inbound) throws, and the athleticism of Dave Yazzie should complement fellow big man Winston Benally, also a member of the Dine’ Nation.

Developing players Dan Meiser, and Ian Hamblin rejoin the pool of forwards, and Tom McGill and Patrick Garcia hope to return to action following stints of concentrated academic activities. In addition, former captain Brian England hopes to squeeze a season into the busy life of student and local restaurant entrepreneur. England has shown talent at several of the 15 positions in rugby in past seasons.

Linking the backs and forwards last year was Josh Ulbricht of Socorro, who returns as the leading candidate for that vital role.

Eleven members of this year’s team toured Ireland for Tech last March, where they advanced their skills via the “school of hard knocks”. They returned with a record of one win and two losses, and learned firsthand many of the finer points of the game. In addition, Bauer, Jilek, Kelly, and Ledesma played in the Western U.S. Rugby Union All-star championships last November at Norman, Oklahoma.

Training sessions are held at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday at the New Mexico Tech athletic field, commencing on August 27.

Fall 2002 Rugby Schedule