Five Utah Rugby Players Make Team USA for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games

Five of the 12 players on Team USA's rugby sevens squad for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games are from Utah. The U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee named Hunivaololo Folau, Sophia Johnson, Lavinia Lomu, Luisa Moala and Eseta Moala to the team on Sept. 2, 2026, and the rugby tournament in Senegal starts Sunday, Nov. 1, the day after the Opening Ceremony.

No other state placed more than two players on the roster. Rugby is not a UHSAA-sanctioned sport, and Utah Youth Rugby lists all five with Utah clubs.

Who are the Utah players on Team USA's Youth Olympic rugby team?

Utah Youth Rugby, which calls itself the official governing organization for youth rugby in the state, congratulated the five on Oct. 27 and listed each player's club:

• Hunivaololo Folau, Westlake Drua (USOPC hometown: West Jordan)
• Sophia Johnson, Majestics (USOPC hometown: Orem)
• Lavinia Lomu, United Rugby (USOPC hometown: Orem)
• Luisa Moala, Northside
• Eseta Moala, Northside

Names here follow the USOPC's spelling. Utah Youth Rugby called their selection "a tremendous accomplishment and a proud moment" for their clubs, families, coaches and the Utah rugby community, and said the five represent "the talent, dedication, and continued growth of girls' rugby across Utah." The post signed off: "Utah is behind you!"

Utah Youth Rugby describes the group as Team USA's women's under-18 sevens squad. The USOPC lists only an age range for its whole Dakar delegation, 13 to 18.

How many Utah players made Team USA?

Five, the largest group from any state on the USOPC's 12-player list. The other seven come from Idaho (two), Washington (two), Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado:

• Mallory Crawford and Rebekah Jenks of Boise, Idaho
• Chloe Gandy and Ella Moynihan of Washington
• Sofie Ferri of Akron, Ohio
• Abigail McGettigan of Downingtown, Pennsylvania
• Avery Russer of Silverthorne, Colorado

The rugby players make up 12 of the 29 athletes on the full U.S. Youth Olympic team, which competes in 12 sports. Daniel Smith, the USOPC's director of summer games and Team USA's chef de mission for Dakar 2026, said the Games "will be a special moment for the Olympic Movement."

When does rugby start at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games?

The Games run Oct. 31 to Nov. 13 across Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, Senegal. World Rugby calls Dakar 2026 the first Olympic sporting event to be staged on the African continent, with around 2,700 athletes expected across 25 sports.

Rugby sevens opens on Nov. 1 at the 8,000-seat Complexe Iba Mar Diop, and World Rugby lists the medal matches for Nov. 2 and Nov. 3. The USOPC directs fans to the official Dakar 2026 site on Olympics.com for schedules and coverage.

Who does Team USA play in Pool B?

World Rugby invited eight teams to each of the two sevens tournaments and split them into pools of four. Team USA is in women's Pool B with Czechia, Madagascar and Spain. Pool A holds Australia, China, Kenya and host Senegal.

None of the 2018 girls' medallists is in the Dakar field: New Zealand beat France for gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires that year, with Canada taking bronze. The United States has no team in the eight-team men's tournament, so these 12 players are the only U.S. rugby entry in Senegal.

Rugby sevens joined the Youth Olympic program in 2014 in Nanjing, China, where Australia won the girls' gold, and Dakar is its third appearance. World Rugby counts future Olympic medallists among Youth Olympic rugby alumni, including New Zealand's Risi Pouri-Lane, a gold medallist in Tokyo and Paris, and Canada's Charity Williams and Keyara Wardley.

How did Utah become part of Team USA's Olympic rugby story?

Utah already has a moment in U.S. Olympic rugby history. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Alex "Spiff" Sedrick, a Herriman High product and native Utahn, scored the tying try as time expired and kicked the winning conversion to beat Australia 14-12 in the bronze-medal match. It was the first Olympic medal for the U.S. women in rugby sevens.

Team USA reported that she sprinted the length of the pitch for the try. "We're really trying to raise up rugby in the US, especially in the women's game," Sedrick told KSL. Two years later, five more Utah players will wear the same colors at Dakar 2026.

Is girls' rugby a high school sport in Utah?

No. Rugby is not sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association. The UHSAA's 2025-26 emerging sports summary lists girls' rugby at 24 member schools and boys' rugby at 32. Sanctioning consideration starts at 32 schools for a girls' sport and 48 for a boys' sport, and only girls' and boys' mountain biking and pickleball meet that bar.

The girls' game runs through clubs instead. Utah Youth Rugby, based in Centerville, is taking registration for its 2026 Fall 7's season, and its club directory lists 14 girls' clubs, from Bear River to West Valley. In its Oct. 27 post, Utah Youth Rugby listed the five Dakar players with their clubs: Northside, Majestics, United Rugby and Westlake Drua.

For more Utah rugby, see the Utah Rugby League listing, which covers rugby league, a different code from the sevens these five play. More Utah women's and girls' sports: Utah women's sports.

Key facts:

• Players: Hunivaololo Folau (Westlake Drua), Sophia Johnson (Majestics), Lavinia Lomu (United Rugby), Luisa Moala (Northside), Eseta Moala (Northside)
• Utah share: five of Team USA's 12 rugby sevens players, more than any other state on the USOPC list
• Announced: Sept. 2, 2026, by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee
• Event: Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, Oct. 31 to Nov. 13, Senegal; the first Olympic sporting event held in Africa, per World Rugby
• Rugby dates and venue: Nov. 1-3, Complexe Iba Mar Diop; medal matches Nov. 2 and 3
• Pool B: USA, Czechia, Madagascar, Spain
• Utah precedent: Herriman's Alex Sedrick scored the last-play try in USA's 14-12 bronze-medal win over Australia at Paris 2024
• Utah high school status: girls' rugby is not UHSAA-sanctioned; 24 schools on the 2025-26 emerging sports list