2025-2026 Season – That’s a Wrap!

The Rugby Program finished strong and had an amazing season this year. The Girls’ Rugby Team cinched first place in the SCIRF Southern California 7’s Championship (with a 23-1 season record). In February, the Boys’ Rugby Team traveled to Orange, CA to battle the Lancers of Orange Lutheran for the LA/OC Division Championship. The match was the final game for an extremely strong senior class (Forwards: Adam Afify, Eduards Barks, Ben Martin, Colin McGinley, Brandon Merriman, Haden Pedersen, William Rusnak, Parker Spiegel and Alex Wilmarth; Backs: Carter Libby, Theo Mackaman, Vincent Martinez, Liam Meeker and Luke Meeker). These boys were a huge part of the success of the Mustangs Rugby program and will be missed greatly. Most of the boys will be playing Rugby at the college level, as well as a couple who will be playing D-1 football next year.

On March 9th, we had a chance to honor our coaches and players at the end of the year banquet, and to acknowledge our graduating seniors (boys listed above, and from our Girls’ Rugby Team, Kaitlin Gautier, Savannah Swartzlander and Dora Tuitupou) who’ve shown amazing talent, resilience, and teamwork! We are incredibly proud of each of these young men and women, all of whom will be missed tremendously. And a huge thank you to all the players this season for playing with integrity and representing Mira Costa well throughout the season both on and off the pitch.

We also would like to express our deepest gratitude to our coaching staff (Head Coach Duke Dulgarian, Coach Andrew Hunter, Coach John O’Neill, Coach Jonah Tavai, Coach Frankie Kovach, Coach Justis Tavai, Coach Reed Vabrey, Coach Rob and Coach Gareth) for their dedication to the players and the game. We also want to recognize all the parents for their support of the team, the players and the coaches. We couldn’t do it without you!

We are looking forward to spring off-season conditioning and a fun summer honing our rugby skills – all in preparation for a successful and exciting next season. In addition to our regular winter season, the Rugby program is currently planning our next international tournament during Spring Break next year. Go Costa Rugby!