San Luis Obispo- The Founder’s Club gained three new deserving members on Saturday night, October 9th; they were Dave Sturgis of ’69, Doug Smith of ’77, and John Vlahandreas of ’89.
There was an enormous turnout at the event and there were plenty of opportunities for old battle stories to be told. The annual Higgins Scholarship was handed out at the Founder’s Dinner also.
Prior to the dinner, there was a lot of good rugby played with a large Alumni turnout. The day started with a showcase of the new Cal Poly 7′s rugby squads going head to head. The multiple matches proved to be a solid showcase of what is to come for the 7′s program in the future. All 7′s games turned out to be a useful tool for the coaches to evaluate the skill levels of both the rookie and veteran players.
During the course of the day much of the strong new rookie class also enjoyed their first rugby experience in a Cal Poly Rugby jersey.
The Alumni managed to put together a solid team that came out and challenged the Cal Poly team with their physicality and athletic prowess. There were a total of five 20 minute periods played between the current players and the Alumni. Each period played was competitive and aggressive, yet both sides consistently maintained a lighthearted mood. Then, everyone cleaned up and headed over to the Founder’s Dinner.
First, the state of the team and club were presented, followed by the Higgins family awarding this year’s Higgins Scholarship recipient Jake Gersh with the prestigious award. Jake is an extremely hard working and committed rugby player and student. He is a sophomore Natural Resources Management major who plays both wing and fullback.
Overall, Founder’s Weekend was very successful thanks to all of Cal Poly Rugby’s Alumni, friends, family, coaches, and players.
The team is now focusing on refining for the beginning of the preseason matches soon to follow.