Though Saturday’s bout will be the Durango Roller Girls first as a Women’s Flat Track Derby Association certified member, to the team, it’s just another game.
The Derailers travel to Ogden, Utah to face the Junction City Trainwrecks in a matchup of two leagues certified by the WFTDA.
“We’re super excited,” said Kalisha Crossland, aka Kill Eatcha. “We feel like this is a good opportunity to be challenged and come together as a team for that challenge.”
Junction City was ranked 96th out of 205 qualified WFTA leagues in the last batch of rankings released June 30.
The Trainwrecks have won their last seven bouts but haven’t competed since the Mayday Mayhem on May 9-11 in Loveland.
Junction City also features a second traveling team, the Locos, that has won its three bouts this season.
“This team’s one of our tougher competitors,” Crossland said.
Skating against stronger competition has been one of the DRG’s goals this season, especially after becoming a WFTDA member league.
The Derailers need to skate in three sanctioned bouts before they are eligible to be ranked, and Saturday’s bout will be the first.
“I’m of the perspective that, at this point, we need to be carefully picking who we play because of the rankings,” said Jen Pack, aka Kim Jen Illin.
The DRG has one more sanctioned bout scheduled this season against Arc Valley in September in Salida, and they plan to have the next bout early in 2015.
Ultimately, the league would like to move from its current Division III spot into Division II.
The WFTDA divides its members into division based on their ranking.
The first through 40th ranked teams are in Division I, No. 41 through No. 100 are Division II and the rest are Division III.
“If we want to (move up) successfully in the next year, then we’re going to have to be careful about choosing people we can play that are going to be tough matches, and we’ll have to do well against them,” Pack said.
That journey begins against a relatively familiar opponent in Junction City.
The DRG never has faced them in Ogden, but the two teams met at a January tournament in Moab, Utah.
“We have a pretty good idea of what we’re going against,” Crossland said. “They’ve played a lot of the teams we’ve played. They’re like us; they’ve been together for a while.”
While winning, ultimately, is the first goal for the Derailers, they also understand the importance of quality play.
“One goal is to maintain a high level of composure, play clean and smart,” Crossland said.
kgrabowski@durangoherald.com
