VANCOUVER – Trinity Western's men's rugby sevens team earned a fourth-place finish at the Western Canadian Sevens Championships Friday at UBC.
 
The Spartans opened the tournament with a convincing 35-10 win against Alberta, before falling to UBC 43-5 in their second match of the day. TWU concluded round robin play with a 29-5 win over Regina to secure a spot in the bronze medal match, where a last-minute try from Calgary capped the Spartans fourth-place finish.
 
Nate Schroeder (West Kelowna, B.C.) led the Spartans on the day with three tries, while Benedict Makwarimba (Harare, Zimbabwe) and Sam Wegert (Langley, B.C.) each scored two. Keegan Marengo (Edenvale, South Africa) went a perfect 5-for-5 on conversions despite a shortened tournament.
 
Victoria won five games to win the sevens championship, while UBC (2^nd) and Calgary (3^rd) rounded out the top-3 finishers.  
 
It was the second tournament of the season for Trinity Western's rugby sevens squad, having also played at the West Coast 7s Tournament in San Francisco Oct. 19-20, 2019. 

TWU (35) Alberta (10)
After conceding a try within the first two minutes of the game, the Spartans took over in their tournament opening game against the Golden Bears. TWU picked up tries just 1:30 apart and scored 35 consecutive points to open the tournament with a win.

UBC (43) TWU (5)
The Spartans were largely outmatched by a UBC side looking to win in front of its home fans, as they were outscored 43-5 to drop their first game of the tournament. Scott Bowers picked up the Spartans only try of the match. 
 
TWU (29) Regina (5)
TWU picked up three first half tries to take a commanding lead over Regina in their third game of the day. Led by a pair of tries from Nate Schroeder, one in the first half and another in the second, the Spartans ousted the Cougars to grab their second win of the day.
 
Calgary (12) TWU (5)
The Spartans got off to a great start in their final game of the tournament, as Sam Wegert scored TWU's match-opening try to give TWU a 5-0 lead. Calgary then added a try later in the first half to tie things up. The Spartans were then stunned late, as a try in the final minute and following conversion sealed the Dinos 12-5 win in the third-place match.

QUOTABLE
Andy Evans – TWU Head Coach
 
"We started off with some unfortunate injury problems right out of the gate today, as key players in Keegan and Ethan were both out after our first game. Considering we've been primarily focusing on our 15s game, with just one 7s practice on the year, I thought the boys were really brave. A lot of guys stepped up in the midst of our injuries so to finish in fourth-place at our first sevens tournament is something to be proud of. The future is bright and I'm excited to see what's in store."

UP NEXT
The Spartans men's rugby program will wrap up the season with a road matchup against Central Washington University in three weeks at Ellensburg, Washington (Mar. 28).

TWU TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Game 2
Trinity Western Spartans (35) vs Alberta Golden Bears (10)
 

	1st Half	2nd Half	Full Time
TWU	21	14	35
Alberta	5	5	10

Scoring summary:
Alberta Try - (convert missed) 5-0
TWU Try - #14 Benedict Makwarimba (#10 Keegan Marengo convert good) – TWU 7-5
TWU Try - #13 Ethan Bernardin (#10 Keegan Marengo convert good) – TWU 14-5
TWU Try - #8 Nate Schroeder (#10 Keegan Marengo convert good) – TWU 21-5
HALF
TWU Try - #15 Kyhree Poole (#10 Keegan Marengo convert good) – TWU 28-5
TWU Try - #12 Sam Wegert (#10 Keegan Marengo convert good) – TWU 35-5
Alberta Try – (convert missed) – TWU 35-10

Game 5
UBC Thunderbirds (43) vs Trinity Western Spartans (5)

	1st Half	2nd Half	Full Time
TWU	5	0	5
UBC	17	26	43

Scoring summary:
UBC Try – (convert good) – UBC 7-0
UBC Try – (convert missed) – UBC 12-0
UBC Try – (convert missed) – UBC 17-0
TWU Try - #2 Scott Bowers (#22 Ben Adkins convert missed) – UBC 17-5
HALF
UBC Try – (convert good) – UBC 24-5
UBC Try – (convert good) – UBC 31-5
UBC Try – (convert good) – UBC 38-5
UBC Try – (convert missed) – UBC 43-5
 
Game 9
Trinity Western Spartans (29) vs Regina Cougars (5)

	1st Half	2nd Half	Full Time
TWU	19	10	29
Regina	0	5	5

Scoring summary:
TWU Try - #11 Marcus Rauch (#12 Sam Wegert convert missed) – TWU 5-0
TWU Try - #8 Nate Schroeder (#12 Sam Wegert convert good) – TWU 12-0
TWU Try - #14 Benedict Makwarimba (#12 Sam Wegert convert good) – TWU 19-0
HALF
Regina Try – (convert missed) – 19-5
TWU Try - #8 Nate Schroeder (#8 Nate Schroeder convert missed) – TWU 24-5
TWU Try - #22 Ben Adkins (#22 Ben Adkins convert missed) – TWU 29-5
 
Third-Place Match
Calgary Dinos (12) vs Trinity Western Spartans (5)

	1st Half	2nd Half	Full Time
TWU	5	0	5
Calgary	5	7	12

Scoring summary:
TWU Try - #12 Sam Wegert (#12 Sam Wegert convert missed) – TWU 5-0
Calgary Try – (convert missed) – 5-5
HALF
Calgary Try – (convert good) – Calgary 12-5

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.

-TW-