July 8-9, 2000: Atlantis Men, Women Sweep Santa Teresa Sevens (Venezuela)

(tournament #78)
Emil Signes
JUNE 25, 2013 (rev. July 8, 2013)

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Note of July 2013: I just found two articles on this tournament, one in an online version of a Caracas newspaper, and one in Rugby Magazine, presumably written by one of the tour participants (I wasn't there).  It was a typical Atlantis co-ed venture, I'm told: both sexes wary of the other at the beginning, and best friends at the end.  We had five members of staff, three of them - Jason Fox and Tracy Moens, coaches, and Artie Fitzpatrick, men's manager - doubling as players.  Chris Franz went as the women's manager and Doc Sue Bercuk as the trainer to both teams. Both teams went 5-0; all five of the men's game results are known, but only the last two of the women's (the opposite of the norm).  What I have follows.

Rosters (Atlantis Number, Name, Club)

Atlantis Men
387 Rob Balnis, Montak
172 Chris Carney, Montauk
500 Nigel D'Acre, Old Blue (NY)
  56 Artie Fitzpatrick, Montauk
236 Jason Fox, Cleveland Rovers
501 Dan Godstrey, NY Fire Marshalls
502 Sean Hartley, Greenville (SC)
503 Brett Howell, Cleveland?
438 Jeff Reuther, Texas A&M
134 Greg Schor, Old Blue (NY)

Atlantis Women
378 Bev Armstrong, Beantown
498 Angel Bishop, Kansas City Jazz
323 Michele Friel, Beantown
166 Tracy Moens, New Orleans
440 Tyshawn Henry, Berkeley
380 Rosie Kelly, Washington Furies
169 Krista McFarren, Maryland Stingers
442 Michelle Persica, Ozark Ladies
499 Sarah Schooler, Maryland Stingers
445 Haley Steele, New York
326 Heather Stevens, Boston

The two teams at a practice session:
Atlantis in Venezuela 2000
Atlantis men and women in Venezuela, July 2000. At Santa Teresa Rum Plantation (see bottle behind the players)
Top, L to T: Greg Schor, Haley Steele, Jeff Reuther, Michele Friel, Chris Carney, Brett Howell, Rosie Kelly, Rob Balnis, Krista McFarren, Dan Godstry, Tyshawn Henry, Artie Fitzpatrick, Nigel d'Acre
Bottom, L to R: Tracy Moens, Sarah Schooler, Bev Armstrong, Sue Bercuk, Michelle Persica, Sean Hartley, Angel Bishop, Jason Fox, Heather Stevens, Chris Franz

Here are the women and some of the men at the beach:

Atlantis at the beach

I've excerpted a large chunk of the Rugby article below, some quoted, some paraphrased.

Despite equatorial heat and taxing waits between games, Atlantis achieved the first 'double' in the history of the program, winning both the men's and the women's bracket of the 2000 Santa Teresa 7s in Venezuela...

The men's final saw Atlantis storm to a spectacular 26-14 victory over hometown favorites UCV (Universidad Central de Venezuela) in front of nearly 1,000 people. On the way to the final Atlantis breezed through the preliminary rounds....

Like their male counterparts, the Atlantis women cruised through their preliminary rounds... to set up a North American final against the Canadian Druids.

The only team in the tournament to test Atlantis, the Canadians relied on an extremely physical style of play. Atlantis learned that the Druids had speed as well, as Bev Armstrong was chased down by the Druid sweeper.  Bev made another breakaway, and this time was supported by hooker Heather Stevens who scored. Not to be outdone, Armstrong scored a try of her own two minutes later.

Sevens veteran Krista McFarren scored next, looping around Armstrong as she pinned her opposite number on the outside. McFarren scored again at the sweeper position from a turnover.  Halftime 22-0.

The Druids scored after a series of scrums at Atlantis' 5-m line followed by a penalty scored by their #3, "a classic big girl try."  Later Michelle Persica drew several defenders and put Krista away for a hat trick.

Atlantis scores: Krista McFarren 3 tries, 1 conversion; Heather Stevens and Bev Armstrong 1 try each, Rosie Kelly 1 conversion.
Atlantis women scoring:
name
 Tries
 Conv
 Points
Krista McFarren
 7
 1
 37
Rosie Kelly
 1
 13
 31
Angel Bishop
 4
 5
 30
Tyshawn Henry
 6
 0
 30
Bev Armstrong
 5
 0
 25
Michelle Persica
 5
 0
 25
Heather Stevens
 4
 0
 20
Michele Friel
 3
 0
 15
Haley Steele
 2
 0
 10
Sarah Schooler
 1
 0
 5
Tracy Moens
 1
 0
 5
Total
 39
 19
 233

(I have the feeling that whoever sent the results to Rugby was a member of the women's team, as we have no equivalent detail for the men.)
Atlantis Men, Results
Game
 Type
 Opponent
 WLT
 PF
 PA
1
 Pool
 Alacranes
 W
 46
 0
2
 Pool
 Misión Imposible
 W
 62
 0
3
 QF
 Orquideas
 W
 41
 0
4
 SF
 CRUM 1
 W
 46
 0
5
 Final
 U. Central de Venezuela
 W
 26
 14


Total
221
 14

Atlantis Women, Results
Game
 type
 Opponent
 WLT
 PF
 PA
1
Antioquia (Columbia)
 W
 46
 0
2
UCV 2
 W
 67
 0
3
CRUM 2
 W
 60
 0
4
 SF
 Antioquia (Columbia)
 W
 31
 0
5
 Final
 Druids (Canada)
 W
 29
 7


Total
233
 7


The scores are close, if not totally accurate (I received 3 different scores - 24-7, 29-7, and 36-15 for the final).  The individual scoring in Rugby added up to 29, so I used the 29-7 one.

Here is a picture of the women collecting their trophy (I don't have the equivalent pic for the men).

Atlantis Women & Trophy
Atlantis women with trophy

Here's the article that appeared in the August 28, 2000 Rugby:
Rugby Mag article on Atlantis in Venezuela


Here's a mini-article written up in the online version of Caracas's El Universal newspaper.
Atlantis' double win in El Universal

Article in online version of El Universal
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