BEACON SPORTS
Rugby rucks through first season
Kevin Jackson fights for the ball in a recent match,
Ruffo caught running away
The Penn State Behrend men’s and women’s cross-country teams will attempt to win their conference
titles this weekend. The teams will compete in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC)
Championships at Lake Erie College in Ohio on Saturday.
Behrend cross-country coach Dave Cooper says his team is looking forward to the competition it will
have in the conference championships. “We will get a lot of competition from Frostburg State,” Cooper
said. “Hopefully we will come out on top. It will be a tough fight.” Cooper says that consistency by the
entire team is necessary for success in the tournament. “All five of the scorers will have to do well,” he
said.
Senior captain and last year’s AMCC Runner of the Year Brad Ruffo will lead the men’s team in the con
ference championship. Ruffo won the AMCC Championship title last year, and finished 12th in the NCAA
Mideast Regional. Last year he became the first runner in Behrend history to qualify for the NCAA
Nationals. Ruffo will be joined this year by two pairs of runners on the men’s team. Cooper says that fresh
man Kevin Gorny and junior Andy Marshall will
run in one pair, with freshmen Andy lams and Rob
Shrawder running in another pair. Marshall was
named Most Improved Runner on the team last
year.
For the women’s team, sophomore and 2005
AMCC Newcomer of the Year Jenny Bailey will
lead the way. She finished in second place in last
year's AMCC Championships, as well as a 35th
place finish in the NCAA Regionals. Cooper says
juniors Leisl Soergel and Willa Paterson will run
together, and freshmen Lisa Brozewicz and Jenna
Zeyfang will run in another pair. Last season
Soergel was named to the AMCC All-Conference
team, while Paterson was named to the NCAA All-
Region Freshman team in 2004. The pairs “need to
stay together,” Cooper said.
Some of the best things this season have been the
way teammates have been able to motivate each
other, according to Cooper. “Both teams have com
petition among themselves. They push each other
in practice,” Cooper said. The cross-country teams
hope this practice will pay off on Saturday when
they race for the AMCC championships.
tened oval shape. Rugby is a simple sport says
junior physics major Jeff Machusko. “It’s just if
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO , , , ~ , ... ,
you have the ball then you run and if the other guy
has the ball, you hit him. It’s a lot of fun,” said
Machusko. Other ways of describing
By Thomas Phillips
staff writer
Ruffo leads the pack at a recent invitational,
By Lauren Weaver
staff writer
Rucks, scrums, Zulu's, and an oddly shaped
soccer-football hybrid? Rugby was born in 1832
in the middle of a soccer game at the Rugby
School in England when William Webb Ellis,
"took the ball in his arms and ran." Here on the
Penn State Behrend campus there is a rugby club
team comprised of 16 men, with a few woman
practicing with the team, under coach and biology
professor Dr. Heather Jones. Behrend students
started out last spring with the intentions of having
both a men’s and women’s team, but were only
able to form a men’s team. Due to lack of compe
tition and forfeit, Behrend has only played one
other college team, Allegheny, this fall season.
They won that game, and have also played the Erie
men’s Rugby Football Club (RFC) and the Akron
men’s RFC.
To the untrained spectator there may seem to
be a few peculiar things about this hybrid of soc
cer and football. The rugby ball, originally made
of a pig’s bladder, is now a conglomeration of
latex, polyurethane, synthetic leather, glue and
laminated leather; a complex critter with a flat-
the sport are “intensely aggressive” and
“non-stop action.”
Here in the Erie area, there are some
more intriguing rugby idiosyncrasies
that can’t be found anywhere else.
Machusko explains the infamous zulu.
“After you score your first try (touch-
down) you have to streak around the
bar or the pitch (field) and whoever’s
there will pour beer on you. It’s like a
rite of passage. It’s just all in fun.‘
Rugby is seen as a rugged and brutal
game. Earlier in its history, the inten
tion of rugby was to build character
and team play in young men of the priv
ileged class. This past June, in southern
Russia, rugby players were mistaken
and detained for being opposing gangs
brawling in a field outside the city. The
teams were informed they had to make
their practice plans public to the police.
Today it is still deemed to be the most
team oriented sport there is, even if it
has a seemingly violent nature
Anyone interested in playing rugby
here at Behrend can meet for practice in
the field behind the apartments at sp.m.
on Mondays,
Thursdays to meet the players and try
the sport out for themselves.
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f * v‘‘U u A r *•" A.n a- . .. Wi’,
Lisa Wagner (New Castle/Laurel) has been named the Housing and
Food Services Athlete of the Week.
Wagner led the women’s volleyball squad to a 2-0 week as they
cruised past both Medaille and Mt. Aloysius in three straight games.
Wagner saw action in all six games, accumulating 18 kills, 26 digs, and
three service aces. The women are now a stunning 25-2 overall, and a
perfect 8-0 in the AMCC.
Volleyball travels to Penn State Altoona on Saturday October 28 for a
5:30p.m. match. Wagner’s accomplishments were acknowledged as part
of senior night.
Wednesdays,
Housing and Food Services Athlete of the Week is selected by the ~
Sports Information Staff.
Most insurance plans accepted. Fees based on family size and income for
those without insurance. Most medical services are provided at no cost to
those age 17 and under.
HOUSING AND FOOD SERVICES
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Volleyball
Senior
October 23,2006
www.adagiohealth.org
The Behrend Beacon I
Friday, October 27, 2006
f agner