Dana Scott / Winonan

With a 92 percent winning rate and two national champion titles in the books (2013 and 2016), Winona State University’s women’s rugby team, the Black Katts, continue to prove themselves to be the best of the best when it comes to the sport.

Veteran players Lanoira Duhart and Megan Wolff, along with the head coach and former head coach, explained the team’s passion for the game, their strong bond and determination to succeed that has led to the team’s successful history.

Duhart is a senior marketing major who joined rugby her first year at Winona State and is now a captain of the team. She said she joined the team because she wanted to try something new, and once she played the game, she loved it. She has made the USA Collegiate team and represented Winona State in two matches in Salt Lake City, Utah, and was also named to the DII first team All-American roster.

Wolff is a junior nursing major who has also been on the team since her first year. In July it was announced she made the 2015-16 USA Rugby National Collegiate Academic Honor Roll. She recalls wanting to be on the team since touring Winona State and learning that the team was the national champions. She thought to herself that she wanted to be a national champion, but she has grown to know many other perks to being on the team.

“My favorite part of being on the team is the community that comes with it,” Wolff said. “The rugby community is the best thing about it.”

Duhart agreed, and despite it only being three weeks into the new season, she said she already feels a connection with the new players; like they have been a part of their rugby family for years.

One of the aspects of the team Duhart has noticed change since her first year, is the helpfulness of the veteran players towards the new players. She expressed her own want to push herself to do better, but this depends on the whole team doing their best. Due to this, she said she takes time to help new members of the team.

“In my eyes, I want to do better,” said Duhart. “But I can’t do all the work. There are 15 players on the field during a game.”

The current head coach of the Black Katts, Josh Krzewinski, is very confident about the upcoming season because the team has younger players learning about the game of rugby alongside veteran players.

“The freshman being able to compete next to juniors and seniors who have played in national championship matches, played for USA All-American teams, competed with the Midwest Thunderbirds when they have traveled internationally, will get them acclimated to our culture and style of rugby,” Krzewinski said.

Krzewinski coached the men’s rugby team at Winona State for 10 years and is beginning his sixth year of coaching the women’s team.

“Teaching the game of rugby and seeing them fall in love with the sport is great,” Krzewinski said. “Rugby allows them to experience so much more than just playing a game.”

Prior to Krzewinski, Roger Riley was the head coach of the women’s rugby team. Roger retired after 11 years of coaching, and after two years of retirement he returned as Krzewinski’s assistant coach.

“We feed off of each other’s ideas and enthusiasm,” Krzewinski said about working alongside Riley.

Riley shared how lucky the women on the team are to have Krzewinski as a coach and how their knowledge of rugby is more advanced than other teams.

“I believe that too many teams focus on ‘fancy’ plays or have game plans of just allowing their best player to be the superstar,” Krzewinski said.  “So, the notion that we must be excellent at the fundamentals and perfect the skills needed to play at a higher level are, so much more important.  We work on those skills every day at practice. This sets us apart from others.”

Wolff expressed how thankful the team is for their coaches because many club rugby teams do not have coaches at all.

Duhart agreed and said, “We are drastically better because of the coaches. We stick out and we have skills because of our coaches.”

Duhart was on the team when the responsibility of head coach switched from Riley to Krzewinski and said the only major change was some of the drills they do at practices.

Another aspect that sets Winona State’s women’s rugby team that sets them apart from other teams, is the Black Katts’ dedication to the sport and their schooling.

“[The players] are people that work hard in academics and play hard at rugby,” Riley said. “They have the ability to produce in the classroom and on the rugby field without compromising either. It all comes down to good time management and passion for the sport.”

Krzewinski shared very similar views on commitment to a sport as a college student.

“They play because they love the sport, and are able to manage their time to be able to practice, compete, study, work, fundraise and still have fun as college kids,” Krzewinski said. “I’m grateful I can be a small part of that journey and create some opportunities for them.”

Wolff added, “It’s all about picking what is important. All the girls on the team do that, regardless of their major.”

The women’s rugby team is considered a club at Winona State and not a varsity sport. This means the Black Katts have to fundraise, organize their own transportation to games and reserve a practice space.

Riley said Winona State’s student senate donates money to the club every year, and the team is grateful for that.

Krzewinski said, “However, club or varsity status, we make do with what we have available, and [we] will continue to work hard producing great results like we have done in the past.”

The team practices three nights a week, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 5:30pm at Minnesota State College – Southeast Technical while their games are on Saturdays.

Both Duhart and Wolff expressed the team’s openness to new members. Even mid-season, the team will admit interested athletes.

“We accept everyone,” said Duhart. “There’s a spot on the team for you.”

Over the weekend, the Black Katts went undefeated in Elk River and claimed their 10th consecutive All-Minnesota championship after scoring 233 points and giving up five. Their season-opener will be home Saturday, Sept. 17 against St. Cloud State University.

-By Dana Scott