Kenai River SheWolves women’s rugby plays with full squad at Dipnet Fest for 1st time, gets victory

Whether it was drawing a women’s team all the way from Milwaukee, or sporting a full local women’s side for the first time, the Kenai Dipnet Fest Rugby 10s Tournament on Saturday, July 13, at Kenai’s Millennium Square continued to showcase the popularity of the game.

The Manu Bears won the men’s title for a fourth straight year by topping Turnagain Bore Tide 34-19 in the championship game.

Scylla Rugby of Milwaukee won the women’s title with a perfect 3-0 run through the tournament.

Kenai River Wolfpack Rugby, which began in 2008, started the Dipnet Fest in 2010.

Dan Balmer is the team president of the Wolfpack. He said the tournament always had good weather in the early years, but the last three years have been marked by driving rain for nearly the entire event.

Still, Balmer said Dipnet Fest is able to draw a team all the way up from Milwaukee.

“It’s really just word of mouth,” Balmer said. “Friends tell their friends, ‘If you want to come to Alaska, this is the tournament to go to.’

“Obviously, our team’s small time. But everyone always tells me this is their funnest tournament of the year. With the rain, people aren’t really in a party mood today, but it’s the camping and just the whole atmosphere.”

Cashew Gold has been the president of Scylla for two years. A team member, Bonnie Kosten, moved to Milwaukee last year after playing for Anchortown in Anchorage.

“She said, ‘There’s this awesome tournament in Alaska. Do you guys want to go?’” Gold said. “We said, ‘Hell yea.’”

Most of the team arrived in Anchorage on Wednesday, then played Thursday at the Alaska Mountain Rugby Grounds.

Gold said everyone on the team got care packages Thursday, then the hospitality continued with the grilling of salmon and burgers in Kenai on Friday night.

“Beautiful views,” said Julius Dentici, husband of player Shannon Dentici. “You can’t beat the views playing here. It’s been an amazing trip.”

Scylla, which was started in 2001, was bumped up to Division 1 by USA Rugby two years ago.

Gold said Scylla has about 32 active players, and brought 13 to the tournament, 10 of whom are over 30 years old. Some of the players used to play Division I college, but most played collegiate club rugby.

“We have a really good group of ladies, and it’s been a lot of fun,” Gold said.

The team was going to do some rafting in Cooper Landing before heading to Seward, then flying out of Anchorage early Wednesday morning.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Kenai River SheWolves, playing as a full team at a tournament for the first time.

Last year, the SheWolves played at Dipnet Fest, but only three players were local. The rest joined the team from other areas.

Team captain Meredith Harber did some recruiting and this year the SheWolves had 12 players.

“This is the first time we really felt like it was a SheWolves team — had real jerseys, had a full line,” Harber said. “Everything felt real this year, so this is really the first real year.”

Harber said team members have worked really hard to get the word out. That had drawn in a diverse group of players. Of the 12, six played collegiately, while six are relatively new to the sport.

“Rugby is a great release,” Harber said. “I always say it’s a socially acceptable way to hit people, and that’s fun if you have a very cerebral, mentally taxing job.”

Harber also loves the community rugby provides. In her second tournament last season, Harber said one of her opponents told her she was doing a good job right before the two rammed into each other.

“What other sport is your opponent cheering you on?” Harber said. “Ultimately, especially the women, but really the whole rugby community just wants the sport to thrive.

“So it’s a really supportive, loving community. We socialize together, we cheer each other on, we play on each other’s teams.”

Harber said she realizes everybody on the team has different priorities and different schedules.

“I keep trying to build the culture of our team that’s very loving and welcoming, and you show up with what you have,” she said.

Tiffinie Randall moved to the area from Nebraska in 2020. She played rugby for five years at Wayne State College in Nebraska.

She said during her time there that the team played for the national title in the Small College division of National Collegiate Rugby five times, winning four years.

Randall said she wanted to continue playing rugby, and is grateful that Harber has made that possible.

“She’s wonderful at bringing people together, and it’s really helped to build the program,” Randall said. “Rugby, naturally, is a welcoming sport.

“I think we just needed to get a little grease on the wheels to really get rolling and rocking. But we’ve pulled it off, and I only see it getting bigger from here.”

Scylla beat the SheWolves in the tournament, as well as the Arctic Foxes 54-5 and Anchortown 22-10.

The SheWolves started by losing to Anchortown 5-0, but then beat Arctic Foxes 12-5 for a victory in just the second full match for the club.

In that first match, five of the players for the SheWolves never had touched a rugby ball before this summer.

One of the newcomers is Celisa Hahn, who scored the first try against the Arctic Foxes.

“That’s kind of the beauty of the sport, right?” Randall said. “If you’re willing to try, we’ll help you score one.”

The second try came from Sylvie Johnson, who is working in the area for the summer but plays rugby for the University of Oregon.

Harber said those interesting in playing can show up at practice at 7 p.m. Thursdays at Millennium Square, or reach out to the SheWolves on social media.

Balmer said that’s it’s been nice to get an injection of energy for rugby in the area from the SheWolves and Harber.

“She’s really cognizant of working together and helping each other out,” he said.

He said there also is youth rugby in the area for the first time. He said 35 kids came out for a clinic in March, and about 20 kids practice at 6 p.m. Thursdays before the adults at Millennium Square. Balmer thanked Brian Johnson and Robert Forster for helping to coach.

The Wolfpack did not win a game at the tourney, losing 15-7 to the Fairbanks SunDawgs, 18-7 to the Bird Creek Barbarians and 21-7 to the Bird Creek Barbarians.

Balmer said Austin Danielson had a good tournament, with tries in the first two games. Balmer also said Forrest Kohn was visiting from Tennessee and jumped in with his old team to give the Wolfpack a boost.

The captain said Danny Autrey is always solid, and Brian Johnson extended his streak of playing in every Dipnet Fest. Victor Rodriguez also was able to play in the tourney with his son, Chuy Rodriguez.

In other matches, the Turnagain Bore Tide beat the Barbarians 7-5, the Manu Bears beat the SunDawgs 21-14 and the Manu Bears beat the Bore Tide 12-5.

In the semifinals, the Bore Tide topped the SunDawgs 19-12 and the Manu Bears beat the Barbarians 43-14.