Wheeling, W. Va. - The 2025 15's season brought together six of the best Men's Rugby teams from across the Atlantic Coast in the Inaugural season of the Atlantic Rugby Conference. Over the weekend, the conference announced their inaugural All-Conference team and, after finishing fifth in the final conference standings, the Wheeling University Men's Rugby team had three representatives on the list. Senior Navin Couch, junior Alex Nyamunda, and junior Taku Musingwini were all honored on the list as they helped lead the Cardinals back to the National playoff stage.
Leading the list of honorees was Nyamunda, who is taking home the second All-Conference honor of his career. He put together a historic season for the Cardinals, leading the team with 16 tries while finishing second with 80 points. He would break two program records during the year, the first of those being the single-season 15's try record. It was a record that has stood for the past 13 years, with Nyamunda accomplishing the feat in the team's final game of the season with a three-try effort against Queens University of Charlotte. He also set the career 15's try record, bringing his total to 32 making him the first Cardinal to go over the 30-try mark in his 15's career. Along with his on-field accolades, Nyamunda is also a nominee for the National Collegiate Rugby (NCR) Player of the Year award, the top honor given out annually in the 15's season.
Taku Musingwiwi is also taking home his second All-Conference award of his career, and his first since transferring to the Cardinals this season. He was the team's primary kicker throughout the season, handling both conversion kicks and penalty kicks throughout the year. He would go 27-34 (79.4%) on conversion kicks and 12-14 (85.7%) on penalty kicks throughout the year. His biggest kick of the season came on the NCR Friday Night Lights game, where he kicked a 50+ yard penalty kick to seal the tie with the Royals. For his efforts, he set three separate single-season records for the Cardinals, with conversion kicks made (27), penalty kicks made (12), and penalty kicks attempted (14). He is one of 10 Cardinal representatives at the 2026 NCR Men's Shield National Challenge as he puts his kicking abilities on display on the national stage.
Navin Couch rounded out the list of honorees, winning his first career All Conference honors for the Cardinals. Couch was one of the leaders of a Cardinal defensive unit that allowed 30.0 points per game during the 2025 season. Couch was regularly tossed in the air on the lineouts and was a regular part of the ruck during the season. Couch has been a steady presence on the Cardinals over his five seasons in the uniform and is also one of the Cardinals heading to the Men's National Shield Challenge, a game that he has been a part of in each of his five seasons with the Cardinals. He rounded out a strong 15's career and will look to help the Cardinals chase a third straight National Championship in the Spring.
With the announcement of the ARC postseason awards, the Wheeling University Athletic Department has now had 20 student-athletes earn All-Conference honors. It was two players shy of their Big Rivers Rugby Conference (BRRC) honorees last year, when they had five, but marked the second year in a row with at least three honorees. The Wheeling Volleyball team was the last program to be honored, earning four All-MEC honorees including the Freshman of the Year award.
The Wheeling University Men's Rugby team continues preparations for the spring season as they look to finish with a three-peat.
