Canadian Men's Team Named for August World Juniors by Danny Da Costa May 21, 2014
- The four members of the Canadian Junior Men’s Team have been
announced, following the final selection trials this past weekend in
Winnipeg. The team will represent Canada at the upcoming 2014 World
Junior Squash Championships in Namibia this summer.
David Baillargeon of
Quebec, 18, and Toronto’s Carter Robitaille, 16, earned automatic
berths onto the team following the 2014 Canadian Junior Squash
Championships and their points gained throughout the two-year selection
process. The remaining two spots were to be determined at the National
Team Selection trials, with the top two finishers being named to the
team. Michael Thompson, 18, from Vancouver and Jarryd Osborne, 18, from
Kingston earned their way onto the team finishing first and second
respectively in the selection trial. The alternate is Michael
Mehl of Calgary, Alberta who finished in 3rd place at the National
selection trials.
The Canadian Team will
be coached by Jonathan Hill of Calgary, who lead our Junior Men’s team
to a bronze medal, our highest ever finish, at the 2010 event in
Colombia.
The World Junior Squash Championships will take place in Windhoek, Namibia from August 10-21, 2014.
More about Team Canada:
David Baillargeon, 18,
from St-Nicolas, QC is the 2014 Canadian Junior Champion in the U19
division, and also finished 8th in the Men’s Open division at the 2014
Lexus of Edmonton Canadian Squash Championships.
Jarryd Osborne, 18, of
Kingston, ON is the youngest of 3 Osborne brothers, and was the Bronze
medalist at the 2014 Canadian Junior Championships. Oldest brother
Tyler was a member of the 2010 team who finished 3rd at Worlds.
Carter Robitaille, 16,
of Toronto, ON is the 5-time Canadian Champion, winning two U13 titles,
one U15, and is the two-time defending Champion of the U17 division. Michael Thompson, 18,
of Vancouver, BC also has a U17 and U15 Canadian title to his name. He
currently plays varsity squash for Drexel University.
Thompson and Osborne Added to World Junior Men’s Team after Trials in Winnipeg
This past weekend saw
eight of our top junior men travel from across the country to compete
in the World Junior Men’s Canadian Team Trials at the Winnipeg Squash
Racquets Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The trials consisted of a
straight-knock out draw format, with the top two finishers qualifying
for the Canadian team set to compete at the World Junior Men’s Team
Championships in Namibia this summer. David Baillargeon of Quebec and
Carter Robitaille of Toronto already earned spots on the team based on
a selection process throughout the past two competitive squash seasons.
The competition began
Friday evening with excellent first round matches and even some
impressive upsets. Matthew Henderson, 17, of Victoria and Michael Mehl,
15, of Calgary were both given wildcard exemptions to participate in
the event, and proved they deserved to be included in the elite group
with first round upsets. Mehl defeated 3/4 seed Matthew Toth of
Richmond 3-2, and Henderson took out second-seeded Alexi Gosset of
Toronto 3-1.
Mehl and Henderson
both dropped their semi-final matches to Vancouver’s Michael Thompson
and Kingston’s Jarryd Osborne, respectively. This set up a 3rd place
face-off between the two to determine the team’s alternate. Mehl won
the match 3-0 to complete his impressive weekend and earn the reserve
position.
Michael Thompson went
on to win the event, defeating Jarryd Osborne 3-1 in Sunday’s final.
With this finish, Thompson and Osborne join Baillargeon and Robitaille
to form Team Canada who will compete at the 2014 World Junior Men’s
Team Championships. The team will be coached by Jonathan Hill of
Calgary.
