Wayne State College men’s and women’s rugby showcased dominance at the 16th annual Battle on the Nebraska Prairie rugby tournament this past weekend.

The women defeated the University of Iowa 19-12 to win the championship, and the Wildcat men won five of six matches and finished third overall.

“This tournament went extremely well,” Head Coach Darrin Barner said of the 73-team event. “The Canadian teams said that this is thebest tournament for competition, overall smoothness and organization.”

On the women’s side, WSC went undefeated throughout the entire tournament.

Their victories came against Southwest Minnesota State (48-0), Bemidji State (31-0), University of Nebraska-Lincoln (50-0), Manitoba University (24-5), Minnesota Morris (60-0), Simpson College (34-0) and against the University of Iowa in the championship game (19-12.)

“The title game got a little hairy,” Barner said. “Iowa had a really fast player who caused some problems. We buckled down and did what we had to do to win.”

On the men’s side, WSC shut out Western Illinois (48-0), Southwest Minnesota State (48-0), Minnesota Morris (39-0), Minnesota State University-Mankato (28-0) and Northwestern College (26-0).

The men’s only loss came at the hands of Bremer County (Iowa), 24-7. Pittsburg State University won the men’s tournament, defeating Minnesota Moorhead, 24-17, in the championship game.

“It’s fair to say we moved up a level for the both the men and women,” Barner said. “Things are starting to click for the women and the men had a very successful day.”

The women will be heading to Sioux Falls, S.D., this weekend for the regional qualifier tournament in an effort to advance to the national championships at Pittsburg State.

“I’m hoping we can play as good as we did this weekend,” Barner said. “We’re favored to win the whole thing, but I am definitely not taking that lightly.”

Up next, the men will be at the University of South Dakota tournament this weekend.

“It was a hard physical weekend,” Barner said. “We are looking forward to playing some younger guys and to rest the older guys.”