Rugby’s center Jack Wendling has been selected as a finalist for the Rudy Scholz award. The Scholz award recognizes the top Men’s Collegiate player in rugby each year. This is the highest achievement a rugby player can receive at the collegiate level.

CWU was the only university that had 3 players nominated this year. Joining Wendling were Alex Cleary and Alex MacKenzie. Fan and team voting helped narrow down the nominees down to four finalists. Other finalists for the Scholz award include Emmanuel Albert (Lindenwood University), George Phelan (Life University), T.J. van Rensburg (Arkansas State University) and Payton Telea Ilalio (Saint Mary’s University).

The Scholz award is named after Rudy Scholz and is given out by the Washington Athletic Club of Seattle. Scholz, who was a warrior both on and off the field, played rugby for and graduated from Santa Clara University. Scholz would go on to become an attorney and decorated veteran for both WWI and WWII. He was also a two time gold medalist who played scrum half for the USA Olympic rugby team, winning in the summer of 1920 and 1924. Scholz never lost his love for the sport and played his last game at the age of 83. 

Wendling, a Bellingham native, is a senior majoring in construction management and is also pursuing a masters in business administration with an ITAM specialization. Wendling initially came to CWU with an impressive background and amount of experience. 

Wendling was introduced to the world of rugby through his father who had also played collegiate rugby.

“It was the first sport I ever played,” Wendling said. 

At the age of six he began playing for his hometown Chuckanut youth club. 

“I just never stopped playing, I’m still best friends with some of the guys from that club,” Wendling said. 

Wendling continued to push himself and grow as an athlete by being a part of developmental programs and tours like Loggers, Eagle Impact Rugby Academy (EIRA) and the All Americans. Through these opportunities he has been able to travel and play internationally. 

“Jack has done a good job of taking advantage of all the available resources available to him both on and off the field,” said head coach Todd Thornley.

Thornley said he is proud and happy that Wendling is being recognized. 

When asked what sets him apart from the other finalists, Thornley said, “Jack has the ability to push on past us and play at a higher level just based on his profile. When you look at all the factors that go into getting to that level, Jack checks a lot of those boxes more than the others.’’ 

The award nomination took Wendling by surprise since he wasn’t sure if the award was still happening because of the pandemic. 

“It’s definitely such an honor to even be recognized as a finalist,” said Wendling. “It was cool to also see two of my other teammates be nominated as well.”

It has been a tough year for many of the sports programs as regulations and cancelations have been constantly changing throughout the year. Rugby was no exception as the wildcats only got to play four out of their five scheduled games. Wendling said he is grateful for the few games they got to play. He ended the season with 4 trys,14 positive tackles and 18 carries.

“Winning would just be a testament to everything, from coaching, trainers, staff, strength and conditioning. I think all of them would be happy to see our school getting recognized among the mix of all the other top programs,” Wendling said.

The award panel made up of coaches and experts now have the difficult task of choosing the recipient of the Scholz award. The winner will be disclosed later this month.