BOYDS, MD- On the afternoon of April 26, the Collegiate Rugby Championship Hall of Fame inducted five new members as their class of 2025. These five members join the six members of the Class of 2024 to bring the current membership in the CRC Hall of Fame to 11. The class of 2025 includes:
Alex Magleby (Dartmouth): Following a successful playing career for both Dartmouth and the U.S.A. Eagles in both 7s and XVs, Magleby returned his alma mater as head coach. Magleby was the first coach to win back-to-back CRC titles in addition to being the first coach inducted into the CRC Hall of Fame. After his coaching success at Darmouth, Magelby was named head coach of the 7s national team in 2011. He served as general manager of the national team at the 2016 Olympics and then co-founded the New England Free Jacks of MLR in 2018.
In his induction ceremony, Magleby honored the late CRC founder John Prusmack and his continued vision of the event, “where countless number of young up and comers have gone on to national team glory, and carried the torch forward at Olympics.”
Thretton Palamo (University of Utah): Palamo, who was the youngest World Cup player of all-time when he debuted for Team USA at age 19, also played professionally in the French Top 14 prior to his enrollment at Utah in 2009. During his freshman year, Palamo led the Utes to the inaugural College Rugby Championship. After finishing up his collegiate career as a scholarship football player, Palamo returned to rugby and represented the United States in both 7s and 15s while also playing professionally in France, England and Wales while domestically plying his trade in Major League Rugby.
AK Pedraza (Lindenwood): In her first three seasons, Pedraza and her Lions temamates earned second-place honors suffering defeats to Life on two occasions and once to Penn State. In her senior season, Pedraza and the Lions gained revenge, defeating both the Running Eagles and Nittany Lions while earning their first championship. This was the beginning of a dynasty for the Lions who won four consecutive CRCs while Pedraza made her debut for the USA XVs in 2017 against Canada. During the 2022 season, Pedraza won the inaugural Premier Rugby 7s championship with the Headliners.
Nicole Strasko (Life): After a successful collegiate basketball career, Strasko took up the sport of rugby while attending Life to study chiropractic and came to national attention at the 2015 CRC with her punishing tackles. In 2016, Strasko recorded a pair of tries to help the Running Eagles win the Collegiate Rugby Championship. In 2022, Strasko teamed with fellow Hall-of-Fame classmate AK Pedraza on the Headliners to win the inaugural Premier Rugby 7s championship.
Kevon Williams (New Mexico Highlands): Following a successful college football career, Williams made the switch to rugby in 2013 and never looked back. Following a second-place finish at the 2014 CRC, Williams and his New Mexico Highlands teammates won back-to-back national championships in 2015 and 2016. That same year, Williams debuted for the 7s national team at the Dubai 7s. The United States then won back-to-back Cup titles at the USA 7s in Las Vegas. Williams has represented the United States at the 2018 Rugby World Cup 7s in San Francisco, and the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics to go with 50 7s World Series tournaments.
Wiliams said of the CRCs, “This tournament means the world to me. This is where I kinda got seen, and I started to be able to make my strides.”
These five members will join the inaugural class which was inducted last year. The first class included:
