Two USA Rugby representatives have been elected to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) Athletes’ Advisory Council (AAC). Christy Ringgenberg was elected as the AAC rep and James Gillenwater will serve as an alternate.

Ringgenberg and Gillenwater applied to be on the AAC and underwent an extensive selection process to eventually be elected.

The AAC’s mission is “to communicate the interests and protect the rights of athletes, in cooperative support of the USOC achieving its mission.”

Ringgenberg has 10 international sevens tournament appearances for the USA since 2004 and has 13 caps for the Women’s Eagles in fifteens. She is fifth on the list of all-time points scorers for the USA Women. She is currently the Women’s International Athlete representative on the USA Rugby Board of Directors.

Gillenwater has 16 tournament appearances for the USA Men’s Sevens team from 2007-2009. In 2009, he assumed the captaincy for the London and Edinburgh tournaments of the IRB Sevens World Series. Gillenwater stepped back from his international rugby career in 2009 to pursue a law degree at Duke University. While studying at Duke, he became involved in community outreach through rugby.

The USOC conference in late September will be the first AAC meeting that a USA Rugby representative will attend.