Blue Devil soccer fans remember Dot Mittow as a goalie on some of Davis High coach Allen Carlson’s last, powerful soccer teams.

Since graduating, Dorothy Mittow (her new East Coast moniker) has been making a name for herself on a different field of battle.

On Friday, Mittow hopes to lead her Princeton rugby team to a national crown in the USA College 7s Championship at Drexel University (Philadelphia). The challenge is mighty.

The Tigers open pool play with Army, then Navy before meeting North Carolina — all in one day.

“(Our game) is played with seven players a side in seven-minute-long halves,” Princeton co-captain Olivia Garard emailed me. She said the 7s, as they are known, is a wide-open game that has the same full-contact rules as the 15-player contests: “The 7s are a true spectator sport!” Garard continued.

Mittow is featured at RugbyMag.com as a “player to watch.”

“(She is) a big, strong girl who’s played with the U20s and was solid,” the online publication says of Mittow.

Princeton drew a brutal USA College 7s pool, but the school should be up to the task, having been in last spring’s Collegiate Rugby Championships. They also will appear in this spring’s D-I Sweet 16 Nationals (a 15s tournament).

Garard says the way her teammate Mittow is playing, don’t be surprised if she — or other Tigers — wind up on the 2016 U.S. Olympics team.
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For most of the Blue and White Nation, St. Francis High is the competition. Boo, hiss …

But the rivalry is good for the athletic programs at both schools — and over the years has elevated the level of competition throughout the region.

Often, without rivalries like Davis-St. Francis, the energy, interest and success of a school’s sports programs might not be as great. There’s something to be said about keeping up with the Joneses.

Over the years, DHS has more than 110 Sac-Joaquin Section titles to its credit — more than any other school on the landscape. About 60 of those are on the women’s side.

One Troubadour backer — Genny McNulty, the school’s media contact — sent me a note about the schools’ athletic triumphs and recent D-I letters of intent.

Biting on a piece of leather and secretly typing in the middle of the night, I am about to give credit were credit is due (if you wear scarlet and gold, don’t get your hopes up about this being a regular feature here).

Congratulations, however, must go out to 11 St. Francis seniors who have signed collegiate letters of intent to play their sports at the next level.

Included in that group is Davis resident Catherine White, who has chosen to crew for Duke.

Ironic. We all knew she’d eventually be a Blue Devil.

In the past 10 years, the Troubies have earned 48 section titles (Davis girls have 27 in that stretch).

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Volleyball at DHS continues to evolve.

Under the guidance of first-year girls mentor Julie Crawford, the Blue Devils went 22-13 (7-3 in Delta Valley Conference).

Now comes word that Nikki Persinger and Angelina Leigh earned first-team all-league honors, while Lyndsay Chambers, a junior, and Madison Whitehead, a sophomore, were given honorable mentions.

Crawford thought the squad “did a great job” as senior setter Persinger and versatile junior Leigh stood apart in DVC coaches’ minds.

Crawford also announced that Devil boys volleyball conditioning is just around the corner.

Beginning Jan. 3, workouts will take place Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m. in the school’s weight room. Tryouts start Feb. 6.

Crawford says all ninth- through 12th-grade boys are invited. Crawford can be reached at [email protected]

— Bruce Gallaudet is a staff writer for The Davis Enterprise. Reach him at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

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