Allison Mueller/Winonan

A team that is often overlooked or sometimes not even known to exist at Winona State University is actually the most successful competitive sports team at Winona State over the last five years.

The Women’s Rugby Club, the Black Katts, have been national finalists the last two years in a row.

Coach Roger Riley and coach Joshua Krzewinski said that expectations for the team are “cranked up a little every year.”

This “cranking up” has definitely paid off, as the Black Katts have an 86 percent winning record. They have won the All-Minnesota Collegiate Tournament for the last six consecutive years and have made it to the National Sweet 16 the last four consecutive years.

It is assumed that a team this successful would be made up of players who have had many years of experience prior to joining at Winona State, but that is not the case.

Riley and Krzewinski said nearly the whole team is composed of new players.

“Of the 35 players we have this year only 8-10  have played before.” Riley said.

Junior team captain Kourtney Kavajecz has been on the women’s rugby team since her freshman year at Winona State. She had no experience and was not planning on joining the team in the first place.

“I was walking through campus during the club fair my freshman year, and all of a sudden there was an intimidating girl yelling at me from across campus to come over by her,” Kavajecz said. “I walked over to her table and she’s said, ‘Okay, here’s the sign up for women’s rugby. We’ll pick you up at 5 p.m. in front of Sheehan.’ And I thought I’d give it a shot.”

Many of the players over the years have, too, “given it a shot,” and as a result the team has been improving each year and have made it to nationals multiple times.

Each year the Black Katts put in a great amount of hard work and dedication.

“We are definitely a team that takes rugby serious,” Kavajecz said. “We work very hard, focus on fitness and our coaches have a huge influence on our team.”

A lot is demanded out of the players at their two-hour practices every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

To start out every practice, Kavajecz said, “We’ll do a warm up lap and stretch. From there we’ll go on a one mile to three mile run.”

Players not only benefit physically from competing on the women’s rugby team. They gain much more from being on the team as well.

Kavajecz said that the aspect that she likes most about being on the rugby team is the newfound confidence it has given her and the friendships she has made.

“You create a bond with the girls on the team,” Kavajecz said. “You really have to trust one another because it is somewhat more dangerous than a regular sport, so you have to be aware of your surroundings and your teammates and you have to have their backs.”

From this strong team chemistry, hard work and commitment, Riley and Krzewinski said they expect great things from their team this year. Both coaches said that they expect to make it to at least the national final four.

As one of the two captains, Kavjecz is responsible to lead the Black Katts to success, but she will not be doing it alone.

“It’s really important for me to just constantly be giving it my all,” Kavjecz said. “Yes, I am a captain and I am a leader, but there are so many other girls on the team that push me and we feed off of each other.”

The players don’t need a lot of extra motivation on the field. With their teammates pushing them constantly and the drive to maintain the team’s success from previous years, there’s only one last thing that gives the Black Katts that extra push.

“Success is contagious.” Krzewinski said.

Nothing proves this statement more true than the women’s rugby team’s record the past five years, for they keep on improving from one year to the next and are expected to continue to do so.

Contact Allison at [email protected]