Grand Junction, CO - The CMU Rugby kicks off the season this weekend on Sept. 8 against Colorado School of Mines. Last season both the men's and women's team failed to make it to the playoffs.
    
    When asked about how she felt about the upcoming season for the women's team, Head Coach Mackenzie (Mack) Lewis said," We are at a new place in life for the women's team. This is the youngest least experienced team I have had in the past 9 years. Which came down to a bunch of different scenarios, returners that were supposed to be coming back that ran into financial issues or eligibility issues. Injured kiddos who technically should be cleared to play but mentally and physically aren't there yet...so it has been a bit harder for the women over the last few weeks, just because of our lack of members with experience, however, the kids we do have on the team with experience, have a lot of it. Whether that's playing 3-4 years on the CMU team or playing in high school. The new players have a lot of talent and have a lot to offer the team once the wheels continue to turn and lights go on. We have a pretty strong athletic incoming group of ladies, so that helps when teaching a new sport to a bunch of ladies."

    In regards to the men's team, Coach Lewis expressed excitement in the potential of the team to do great things this season, "I am very excited for the fellahs, this is the best I have seen them gelling, flowing, working and moving as a unit or family in my 3 seasons with them. They are probably the strongest men's team I have seen in my 9 years here. I am very excited for what they can do and where they can get this season. They have a very strong returning team. They lost two player to injury and eligibility but gained several experienced and knowledgeable high school athletes out of quality Colorado state programs. They have the ability to do something great this season."

      As to how the teams will do in their season opener against Mines, Coach Lewis is confident in the men's team's speed and technique and the younger players maturity. She believes the addition of new talent has led to excitingly new possibilities for the team. For the women's team it was tougher to say how the team would play. The women's team lost to Mines in the playoffs last season as Mines has become the teams biggest competition in recent years. Despite Mines' talents  and the inexperience on the CMU team, Coach Lewis has strong faith in the team's athletic talent and composition. "We have the ability to beat them, all players on the pitch just need to be on the same page. I believe if they go out there and have fun, as cliche as that sounds, we will be fine. Mines hasn't seen our Senior captain Tyneesha Houkamau play, she was absent for both appearances last season. We also have a rookie scrum half, out of Parker, that will be working with veteran captain Audrey Kachin at the breakdowns. We have a lot of new talent in both the forwards and the backs, with some size added to our pack, with Salina Edwards, some talent with HS football kicker Mimi Pavlova, and some hard shifty runs in the back line with Freshmen rookies, Delrena Garcia, and Breezy Brown."

    Coach Lewis revealed that this season she looks forward to seeing the women's team play with confidence and how successful they could be when things begin to click for the entire team as one unit. As for the men's team she is looking forward to seeing how far they can go this season. they have grown year after year and she is excited to see all that hard work pay off.

    The women's team will play at 11AM followed by the men's team at 1PM at the CMU Rugby pitch.