Local High School Students Selected For Tri Counties All-Star Rugby Team

Source: Santa Barbara Youth Rugby

Congratulations to the Santa Barbara Stingrays Youth Rugby Team members who were selected to Tri Counties All Star Varsity and Junior Varsity Teams. 

Local high school students Enzo Gunson (San Marcos High School), Thomas Cassan (Dos Pueblos High School), and Grant Smith (San Marcos High School) were selected for the Tri Counties Varsity All-Star Team,. Tri Counties JV All-Star team selections included Dillon Roberts (Dos Pueblos High School), Jesus Villafranco (Dos Pueblos High School), Tommy Schaeffer (San Marcos High School), Bryton Park (San Marcos High School), Gavin Siegel (Dos Pueblos High School), Rhett Austin ( Dos Pueblos High School), Billy Mencher (Ventura High School), and  Zach Lopez ( Bishop Diego High School).

These Santa Barbara Youth Rugby Stingrays team members were selected to the Regional All-Star team that competed in Southern California You Rugby’s SoCal Showcase on Saturday, May 27, 2017 where they played against other All-Star teams and were viewed by the Southern California Rugby Griffins coaching staff, which made selections for the 2017 Griffins teams, as well as by college coaches from colleges and universities including Army West Point, Cal Berkeley, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Long Beach State, Pepperdine University, Point Loma Nazarene University, Santa Barbara City College Academy, University of New Mexico, USC, UCSB, and Dartmouth, all of which were looking to recruit SoCal athletes.

There are four sections of SoCal Rugby Boys All-Star teams, which include the Tri-Counties region, Los Angeles region, Orange County region and San Diego region. Each team selects its top 25 players to its All-star team, meaning that the young men listed above are among the top 100 club rugby players in all of Southern California. 

Out of this group of Stingrays selected for the All-star Team, Zach Lopez, Jesus Villafranco, and Dillion Roberts were selected to the 2017 Griffins pool (top 40 club players), and the Stingrays are excited to announce that Dillon Roberts was selected to the 2017 JV SoCal Griffins team. He is the second Stingray to be named to the Boys Griffins team, the first being senior stand-out Chris Noggle (Dos Pueblos High School) who was recently selected to the U.S. Rugby under 18s team and played in France over spring break this year. The Griffins have a long and proud history of sending athletes on to the High School All-Americans, Collegiate All-Americans and National 15s and 7s Teams.  

Dillon will join the JV SoCal Griffins team in competing in USA Rugby’s Regional Cup Tournament in Portland, OR on June 23-24, 2017, where they will play against other top select side teams in front of national rugby team selectors.

This past season the Santa Barbara Youth Rugby Stingrays worked hard in the high school divisions and had a 8 -1 Season, playing teams Santa Maria, Ventura, San Luis Obispo, Santa Ynez, Arroyo Grande, along with some tournament play. The team also qualified for playoffs in Southern California.

The Stingrays are members of USA Rugby Association and the Southern California Youth Rugby Association. Competition is organized by age, beginning with the under-8 non-contact division. Contact (tackling) is introduced carefully and safely at the U10 level and continues up through the U18 level. U8 through U12 rugby is coed, while older ages are separated by gender. 

Rugby is a dynamic contact sport played in over 100 countries worldwide. Its popularity transcends gender, racial, religious and class differences and provides unique opportunities for players to forge international and inter-societal friendships. It is also the fastest growing sport in the United States.

This summer, there will be an “Introduction to Rugby” program that will be offered to local academically and financially at-risk children as part of United Way’s “Fun in the Sun” summer camp. The program will run from June 19-28 at different elementary schools in the greater Santa Barbara are, including Santa Ynez.  More information on the “Fun in the Sun” camp can be found at: http://www.unitedwaysb.org/fun-sun-0

For additional information about the Santa Barbara Youth Rugby Stingrays visit sbyouthrugby.com or contact SBYR President Darin Siegel at president@sbyouthrugby.com or 805-403-0515. The Stingrays can be found online at https://www.facebook.com/SantaBarbaraYouthRugby and https://www.instagram.com/sbyouthrugby/