Roster

Christian Mentzer started playing rugby back in high school with the Dexter Devils Football Club and played at Michigan from 2012 to 2014. Mentzer was a member of the 2014 Big Ten 7s championship team and earned Big Ten first-team honors. Mentzer and that team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2014 Collegiate Rugby Championship.

After college, Mentzer joined local Ann Arbor startup Duo Security in 2014 and left Duo in 2020 for New York-based startup HYPR. Mentzer lives in Ann Arbor, and gets the occasional rugby match in as a player with the Detroit Tradesmen.

Matt Trenary is in his first year as an assistant coach after eight years as head coach, having returned in 2019 after previously coaching from 2011 to 2014. Trenary’s first stint saw the Wolverines move to Division 1 in conjunction with the genesis of Big Ten play. Michigan quickly rose to among the nation’s best, competing in the Big Ten championship (later vacated by Indiana) and making the quarterfinals of the 2014 Collegiate Rugby Championship.

Previously, Trenary assisted the team during its 2008 national Division 2 quarterfinal run, and was also a four-year player and captain, and a member of the 2005 national Division 2 semifinalist team. Trenary’s playing career included stops in New Zealand, England, and in Colorado where he also worked for USA Rugby.

A native of Mendon, MI, Trenary graduated from U-M in 2006 with a degree in civil engineering. Matt and his wife Megan live in Chelsea, MI and are parents to Mack and Lilly.

Zach Simkins began his playing career with the Detroit Tradesmen in 2000 and ended it with Life University in 2014, with a half dozen teams–and a few different continents–in between. He was lucky enough to be handed a whistle at U-M later in 2014, and has been thrilled to contribute since then. His focus has been largely attack and backline-focused with an emphasis on empowering the players to play with creativity and confidence.

Off the field, he runs a couple chiropractic offices in Ann Arbor and is what his kids think is an above-average Papa to Blaise (5), Jude (3), and Josie (1). He has no hobbies unless you count rehabbing his old injuries constantly.

Matt Kasten is a native of the Ann Arbor area and a member of Michigan Rugby’s class of 2017. Kasten started playing rugby his senior year at Dexter High School and has played in the back three since day one. Some highlights include playing on three Collegiate Rugby Championship teams, tours to Costa Rica and the Cayman Islands, and helping the club in administrative roles off the field.

After graduating with a degree in sport management, he has worked in university development at U-M, and currently works in the School for Environment and Sustainability. When not coaching, he can be seen shanking drives at local golf courses, tending to his thriving tomato plants, and testing his hamstrings for Ann Arbor’s men’s rugby club.

Drew Vecchio is originally from San Diego, where he was first introduced to rugby in high school. He played at U-M in college, where he started at lock from 2011 to 2015. Due to a serious back injury in 2015, Drew thought his rugby-playing days were done. But after a three-year break, and much physical therapy, he returned to the pitch playing with Ann Arbor’s men’s rugby club.

Vecchio began coaching at U-M in 2019. As a coach, he focuses on working with forwards on scrums and lineouts. Currently, Vecchio is finishing up his doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan.