Athlete of the Week | Weishaupt and Oriol-Morway lead teams on the rugby pitch

Emma Carmichael Assistant Sports Editor

Although lacking varsity status, the Vassar College men’s and women’s rugby teams have established themselves at the national level since Tony Brown took over as Head Coach in 1995. This year, both teams earned top 15 national rankings and won their respective Beast of the East tournaments in April.

Danika Oriol-Morway ’07 and Tom Weishaupt ’07 are two seniors who, as co-captains of the women’s and men’s squads, have played a huge role in taking their teams to a new level of play. Both will take to the field for their final competition this Saturday, in the annual Alumnae/i Game at the Vassar Farm.

Oriol-Morway been part of many successes in her four years on the pitch, including a trip to nationals with the team during her sophomore season. In that year alone she led the team with 32 tries (akin to a touchdown in football) and 160 total points. Other achievements include high national rankings for the team and consescutive Seven Sisters titles in her junior and senior years.

This past spring season she recorded 17 tries for a total of 85 points and served as co-captain of the squad, which currently holds an 18-5 record for the combined fall and spring seasons. Her statistics are even more impressive considering the fact that she didn’t pick up a rugby ball until the spring of her freshman year.

After helping to post a remarkable 18-5 record this season, Oriol-Morway said that she feels she is leaving the team in good hands. “We have a very new team right now,” she said. “We improved so much over this past year…[I’m sure] the team is going to keep getting better and better.”

Weishaupt, too, did not come to Vassar with the intention of playing on the rugby team, but was actually a soccer recruit. He said that he was immediately drawn to the great team atmosphere in Vassar’s rugby program.

“The great thing about playing rugby at Vassar is that from the moment I joined the team I had 50 friends looking out for me,” said Weishaupt. “Friends that I will definately carry with me the rest of my life.”

On the field, Weishaupt’s position is known as a “prop,” meaning that he does the “bulk of the pushing during a scrum,” which is essentially a pushing struggle to free the rugby ball. Weishaupt said that during a game he is largely responsible for “winning the ball at rucks, to drive mauls, to make tackles along with the other forwards, and sometimes to carry the ball.”

With the team nationally ranked 12th after winning the Beast of the East tournament and holding a 19-3 record, Weishaupt says he “couldn’t be happier with this season.”

“The fall didn’t end the way we wanted to because we fell short of making nationals,” continued Weishaupt. “But to be ranked in the top 15 nationally is truly an honor and is something that I wouldn't have dreamed of until this season.”

Weishaupt and Oriol-Morway both commended Brown for taking them in as players wholly unexposed to the game and teaching them to love and respect the sport.

“I really owe my whole rugby career to Brown,” said Oriol-Morway. “[He] has been an amazing coach…I’m so glad I joined rugby. It has made my time here at Vassar amazing.”

“Brown is the best coach I have ever had in any sport,” agreed Weishaupt. “[Brown] is a fantastic teacher of the game. Tony truly cares about his players and has helped me grow to love the game of rugby.”