Temple men's rugby captain Gareth Jones runs with the ball during a match with #1 nationally ranked Georgetown. The Owls won the match 20-15 to qualify for their first ever national tournament.

Temple’s athletes are in the national spotlight again — but this time it’s at the club level.

Last weekend, both the Owls’ men’s and women’s rugby clubs became champions of the Mid-Atlantic Rugby Football Union (MARFU) following dramatic victories at Delaware’s Alapocas State Park.

The men defeated Salisbury University 17-10 on a last-minute score to win the championship a day after knocking off top-ranked Georgetown University. The women also won with an end-of-game score that lifted them to a 20-15 victory over local rival La Salle.

By winning their respective championships, both clubs qualified for the National Collegiate Championships. Sixteen teams from across that nation will compete in Samford, Fla. during the weekend of April 16-18.

Temple’s women’s club enters the tournament as the overall number one seed, reminiscent of the 2004 season when the Owls won the national championship. They will play either Claremont College or the University of Arizona in the first round.  The women finished conference play last fall with a 4-1 record before sweeping their way through the Eastern Pennsylvania Rugby Union (EPRU) Championship with victories over York College and La Salle, and the MARFU Championships with wins over George Washington University, the College of William & Mary and La Salle.

This will be the men’s first national championship experience. The Owls drew the overall number three seed and will play Texas A&M University in the first round. The club went undefeated in conference play last fall and defeated Millersville University in the semi-finals of the EPRU tournament before falling to West Chester in the championship match.

However, the underdog Owls ran off three straight dramatic victories in MARFU competition to earn their bid this year. “This is very exciting for us because it’s the furthest we’ve ever been,” said men’s captain Gareth Jones, whose brother Owen coaches the women’s club. “We’ve come a long way in the last four years. Qualifying for nationals is like a dream come true for all of us.”

As club sports, both squads compete at the D-II club level and operate similarly to student organizations. Officers are elected annually and are responsible for scheduling opponents and other duties. In conjunction with Campus Recreation, both groups are actively fundraising to cover transportation and hotel expenses for the trip, most of which are paid directly by the clubs’ players. For information on ways to help, contact Sarah Newton, sport club coordinator, at 215-204-7227.

—Kyle Bagenstose