On Saturday, Sept. 6, the Summit High School girls rugby team hosted the eighth-annual Summit 7’s Rugby Tournament in Breckenridge.

Featuring 22 teams from across Colorado, Utah and Kansas, the tournament was a whirlwind of activity as athletes competed on three different pitches in three separate divisions.

In the top varsity division, Summit’s premier varsity team defeated the Evergreen Lumberjacks, 33-0, the Fort Collins Hammers, 43-0, and Monarch, 26-12. With three-straight wins, Summit punched its ticket to the final match against Alpine, Utah’s United who managed to outscore its opponents 110-0.

In the final, United used a mix of combination of speed and power to jump to an early 17-0 lead over Summit. Although the team was put on its haunches early, Summit rallied behind two second half tries from junior Deirdre Dalzell.

Ultimately it was United who came out on top, staunching Summit’s comeback attempt and winning 24-12.

Summit was led in scoring by senior Teagan Barth’s 35 points (three tries and 10 conversions), Dalzell’s five tries, sophomore Avery Russer’s four tries and junior Hannah Webb’s three tries. Additionally, senior Hailey Russer added two conversions and some great defense to lead the team to a good start to the season.

“We had a lot of good moments and are still growing as a new combination, but we had great effort and identified areas we need to improve on as a group,” head coach Karl Barth wrote in an email. “United was very strong and punished some early mistakes, but we are excited to travel there in two weeks and have the opportunity to test ourselves again against one of the best teams in the country.”

Summit’s second varsity-level team, The Tigers, finished the day 2-2 overall. Both Summit and The Tigers will travel to Superior on Saturday, Sept. 13, to play in the Rugby Colorado Series.