The Great Lakes Collegiate Rugby Conference is a regional women's and men’s collegiate club-rugby league (D2) operating under the umbrella of National Collegiate Rugby (NCR), representing universities across the Great Lakes region. It provides a structured competitive platform where member schools play within the conference during the regular season and vie for qualification into national playoffs under NCR’s governance.
Grand Valley State University took control of the Great Lakes Conference with a 25-12 defeat of Oakland University Saturday.
This was a meeting of two 4-0 teams, both of which had dominated the rest of the competition. GVSU came in the defending conference champs, but it looked like they might lose that title when Oakland ran out to a 12-5 lead.
The Great Lakes Men’s DII Conference has come down to this weekend, as Grand Valley State takes on Oakland University.
GVSU is normally the favored team in this conference, and in fact did very well last year, winning the Great Lakes, beating Northern Iowa in the first round of the playoffs, and losing to eventual national champs Minnesota-Duluth 24-3 - a very creditable scoreline.
More conferences get started this week in Men's DII College action.
The Great Lakes Men's DII Conference kicks off this weekend with a new look.
The Des Moines bracket of the Men’s DII College Playoffs might well have been a forgone conclusion a few weeks ago, but maybe it’s not anymore.
The four teams in it have their own reasons for thinking they could get through to the semis.
De La Salle HS
Saint Mary's (Rudy Scholz Finalist)
USA U20s (Captain)
USA Men's National 15s Team (Debut vs Georgia 2023 at age 20)
As a 17-year-old Spencer Huntley required a waiver to play for the USA U20s, an indication of how he was rated in the USA age-grade pathway. He got that waiver and impressed for the USA U20s, and then moved up to the USA U23s. He led the San Diego Mustangs to a national HS Club championship in 2024.
He also played in the SoCal single-school league for Cathedral Catholic.
Hope Rogers began playing rugby at age 16 in high school and continued to compete during her time at Penn State University. There, she won four National Championships, was crowned MVP on two occasions, was named to the USA Under-20s and earned Collegiate All-American honors for four years. Rogers was also an impressive discus player during her senior year in high school where she broke a school record and won Gold at Districts for the sport.
Mike played for Life College, Philly-Whitemarsh and played for the USA National 7s and 15s teams in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was also part of the Atlantis touring side, playing 7s for the team in several around the world.
