Conner Mooneyham took his rugby skills from the Sierra Foothills Rugby Club to the international level

Conner Mooneyham was always athletic growing up. He excelled at soccer and football in his youth but found his home on the rugby pitch with Sierra Foothills Rugby Club. Mooneyham, a Rocklin native, got his start in rugby at the age of 12 and was told when he began, "You have to be a little bit crazy to get involved in this sport." "I remember I was super small and didn't really understand how to play and I remember meeting Glenn Wardon, the youth coach," Mooneyham recalls. "He was kind of crazy in the way that he coached and it roped me in straightaway. I was super fortunate to be surrounded with a bunch of really good athletes from Del Oro, Rocklin and the surrounding areas." He excelled through his high school years, helping lead Sierra Foothills' JV to an undefeated state championship in 2012 before moving to Texas for his final two years of high school. From there, Mooneyham played collegiately at Life University in Marietta, Georgia, where he was an All-American and led the Running Eagles to national championships in 2016 and 2018. The 6-foot, 210-pound winger made rugby history in 2020 by becoming the number one overall pick in the inaugural Major League Rugby Draft. Mooneyham spent his first two years with the Austin Gilgronis before signing a multi-year contract with the Seattle Seawolves for the 2023 season. "It's definitely turning into a home for us," Mooneyham says about Seattle. "I've only been here three months now and I'm still trying to get my footing, but we love it out here." In the fall of 2022, Mooneyham reached the pinnacle of his young rugby career by representing the United States National Team in South Africa. The Eagles played two test matches against the Cheetahs and Pumas in preparation for Rugby World Cup Qualifiers in Dubai. "It was definitely something that I had trained for since becoming a professional athlete," Mooneyham says. "It's something that every U.S. eligible player ultimately wants to get to. I didn't make the team that went to Dubai, but I had a really good time in South Africa and had a lot of learning experiences there." Mooneyham and the Seawolves are 4-0 and look to be one of the top teams in Major League Rugby for 2023.