WHITEWATER - Alec Treuthardt is making a name for himself on the collegiate club rugby scene.
Treuthardt, an Argyle High School graduate and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater junior, recently was named honorable mention All-American and was a vital cog in the Warhawks' journey to the USA Rugby men's collegiate Division II national championship during the fall season. Treuthardt is just the seventh player from the Warhawks to ever receive the honor.
"It's the equivalent of a UW-Whitewater football player being included on a list of NCAA Division I athletes," said UW-Whitewater men's rugby coach Matt Pederson, who is a 1992 Monroe High School graduate.
UW-Whitewater defeated Furman University 29-13 to win the national championship Dec. 4 in Greenville, South Carolina.
"It's a very incredible honor and award," Treuthardt said. "You never think that highly of yourself until something like this. I never expected it. I never imagined it in my whole life. I'm lucky. It's a great testament to the team too. We had an excellent team."
Treuthardt, a 2014 Argyle High School graduate, was also a USA Rugby 7s Division II All-American last spring. He was on the Whitewater rugby team that finished as the rugby 7s national runner-up in 2015 and part of the team that placed third last spring.
Treuthardt was a three-sport star at Argyle and didn't even know the rules to rugby when he enrolled at Whitewater. He had his mind set on trying to make the football team.
"One of the dads of the Whitewater rugby players came to my graduation party and said if football didn't work out to give rugby a try," he recalls. "I saw a rugby booth set up and I have been playing ever since."
Treuthardt, a finance major, said the best aspect of being a member of the rugby club team is the camaraderie.
"My first year I sat on the bench because I didn't even know the rules," he said. "The guys on the team were great and built me up and taught me. I was athletic, but they taught me the game."
He received a tryout to play football at Whitewater in the fall of 2015 and made the team. However, coaches wanted him to sit out one year to gain even more strength to go along with his speed and quickness. He didn't want to sit out a year and didn't want to give up playing rugby, so he passed on playing football and became a full-time rugby player.
"I just fell into the system at a bad time and they had a lot of incoming freshmen," Treuthardt said of his football opportunity. "It worked out the best for me."
Treuthardt plays the wing position in rugby. It's the position closest to the touchline, or sideline.
"It typically is for the fastest player on the team, which Alec is," Pederson said. "I would very much compare a wing to a wide receiver in football. Besides the speed Alec has, he has vision and the instincts needed to turn the corner on anyone."
One of the biggest adjustments for Treuthardt, who was accustomed to being a running back in football, was not always fighting for extra yards. He prided himself on always being relentless on the football field and trying to make a long touchdown run on every play. In rugby, he had to be open to a new mindset.
"Football is a game of inches, and rugby is a game of possession," he said. "Sometimes it's better to go down with the ball or run backwards to protect the ball and keep possession."
Another challenge for Treuthardt was the training.
"Football is intense, but when I went to rugby it was exhausting," he said.
Pederson has been involved as a rugby coach and player for 24 years. He played rugby while he was active in the Army in Okinawa, Japan, in 1993. When Pederson became a National Guard recruiter in 2005 in Fort Atkinson, he was invited to join the UW-Whitewater rugby coaching staff as an assistant coach. He took over as the UW-Whitewater's men's rugby head coach last spring.
Pederson sees Treuthardt's work ethic as being one of the reasons he's been so successful, even though he only started playing rugby two years ago.
"Alec is the player when training is completed for the day he will grab other players and run extra conditioning drills and then go to the gym," Pederson said. "He strives for excellence and has the mental edge that no one on the team is better than him."
The spring rugby season uses the Olympic seven-players-per-side format. Whitewater begins practices in the middle of March. The main differences in the spring rugby season is games are 14 minutes where the fall 15s rugby season is 80-minute games.
Treuthardt, like his coach, has big expectations for the spring rugby season after the Warhawks finished third last year.
"We have four All-Americans back, and there are 16 in the country," he said. "This year we expect nothing but gold."
Treuthardt said he's trying to lose five pounds and get down to 185 pounds for the spring season.
"There is less people on the field so you have to cover a lot more of the field," he said.
If the spring season is anything close to the fall, Treuthardt may have a chance to raise another championship trophy.
Pederson said Treuthardt is one of the best rugby players he has coached.
"I have had players go on and play for the U.S. national team and get NFL tryouts so that bar is a high one to climb," Pederson said. "Alec has the potential to be in the national team player pool if that is something he wants to do."
Treuthardt, an Argyle High School graduate and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater junior, recently was named honorable mention All-American and was a vital cog in the Warhawks' journey to the USA Rugby men's collegiate Division II national championship during the fall season. Treuthardt is just the seventh player from the Warhawks to ever receive the honor.
"It's the equivalent of a UW-Whitewater football player being included on a list of NCAA Division I athletes," said UW-Whitewater men's rugby coach Matt Pederson, who is a 1992 Monroe High School graduate.
UW-Whitewater defeated Furman University 29-13 to win the national championship Dec. 4 in Greenville, South Carolina.
"It's a very incredible honor and award," Treuthardt said. "You never think that highly of yourself until something like this. I never expected it. I never imagined it in my whole life. I'm lucky. It's a great testament to the team too. We had an excellent team."
Treuthardt, a 2014 Argyle High School graduate, was also a USA Rugby 7s Division II All-American last spring. He was on the Whitewater rugby team that finished as the rugby 7s national runner-up in 2015 and part of the team that placed third last spring.
Treuthardt was a three-sport star at Argyle and didn't even know the rules to rugby when he enrolled at Whitewater. He had his mind set on trying to make the football team.
"One of the dads of the Whitewater rugby players came to my graduation party and said if football didn't work out to give rugby a try," he recalls. "I saw a rugby booth set up and I have been playing ever since."
Treuthardt, a finance major, said the best aspect of being a member of the rugby club team is the camaraderie.
"My first year I sat on the bench because I didn't even know the rules," he said. "The guys on the team were great and built me up and taught me. I was athletic, but they taught me the game."
He received a tryout to play football at Whitewater in the fall of 2015 and made the team. However, coaches wanted him to sit out one year to gain even more strength to go along with his speed and quickness. He didn't want to sit out a year and didn't want to give up playing rugby, so he passed on playing football and became a full-time rugby player.
"I just fell into the system at a bad time and they had a lot of incoming freshmen," Treuthardt said of his football opportunity. "It worked out the best for me."
Treuthardt plays the wing position in rugby. It's the position closest to the touchline, or sideline.
"It typically is for the fastest player on the team, which Alec is," Pederson said. "I would very much compare a wing to a wide receiver in football. Besides the speed Alec has, he has vision and the instincts needed to turn the corner on anyone."
One of the biggest adjustments for Treuthardt, who was accustomed to being a running back in football, was not always fighting for extra yards. He prided himself on always being relentless on the football field and trying to make a long touchdown run on every play. In rugby, he had to be open to a new mindset.
"Football is a game of inches, and rugby is a game of possession," he said. "Sometimes it's better to go down with the ball or run backwards to protect the ball and keep possession."
Another challenge for Treuthardt was the training.
"Football is intense, but when I went to rugby it was exhausting," he said.
Pederson has been involved as a rugby coach and player for 24 years. He played rugby while he was active in the Army in Okinawa, Japan, in 1993. When Pederson became a National Guard recruiter in 2005 in Fort Atkinson, he was invited to join the UW-Whitewater rugby coaching staff as an assistant coach. He took over as the UW-Whitewater's men's rugby head coach last spring.
Pederson sees Treuthardt's work ethic as being one of the reasons he's been so successful, even though he only started playing rugby two years ago.
"Alec is the player when training is completed for the day he will grab other players and run extra conditioning drills and then go to the gym," Pederson said. "He strives for excellence and has the mental edge that no one on the team is better than him."
The spring rugby season uses the Olympic seven-players-per-side format. Whitewater begins practices in the middle of March. The main differences in the spring rugby season is games are 14 minutes where the fall 15s rugby season is 80-minute games.
Treuthardt, like his coach, has big expectations for the spring rugby season after the Warhawks finished third last year.
"We have four All-Americans back, and there are 16 in the country," he said. "This year we expect nothing but gold."
Treuthardt said he's trying to lose five pounds and get down to 185 pounds for the spring season.
"There is less people on the field so you have to cover a lot more of the field," he said.
If the spring season is anything close to the fall, Treuthardt may have a chance to raise another championship trophy.
Pederson said Treuthardt is one of the best rugby players he has coached.
"I have had players go on and play for the U.S. national team and get NFL tryouts so that bar is a high one to climb," Pederson said. "Alec has the potential to be in the national team player pool if that is something he wants to do."
