Reed, Wong Win Top Divisions at DC Junior Gold by David Keating
Casey Wong (l) and Devin Mullaney, Girls U 19 Final
September 9, 2013
- On a spectacular late summer weekend where hopes rose for the
International Olympic Committee to add squash to 2020 Olympics, the
Squash Revolution Washington DC Gold tournament kicked off the US
SQUASH sanctioned calendar for the 2013-2014 season. After 522 matches
played by 236 players from 17 states plus Canada and Singapore, ten
champions were crowned. The biggest upset was scored in BU11,
where Californian John Ho, the #7 seed, knocked out the #2 seed in the
quarters with a 12-10 win in the fifth game on the way to clinching the
BU11 title in a tight four-game match over the #1 seed in the final. The tournament has
become increasingly popular, as over 300 players, a record, applied to
enter the event, with George Washington University serving as the main
facility for the competition. The tournament, now in its second
year, is becoming well known for excellent communication and
organization, while providing more matches and more opportunities for
points, as every draw played out to at least 12th place and full draws
offered a four-match guarantee. In BU19, both Max Reed
and Jarrett Odrich dropped only one game on the way to the final, which
Reed won in a solid but competitive three games. GU15 national
champion Casey Wong and Devin Mullaney each cruised to the GU19 final
without dropping a game. Wong emerged the victor in a four game
match. The nail-biter match of the tournament featured Alex Jung winning the BU17 quarters 20-18 in the fifth! A Washington Post
reporter doing background research on junior squash visited the U15
matches late Saturday afternoon and came away highly impressed by the
sport as well as the level of play and competition at the event. The tournament proved
that the depth and level of play among US SQUASH juniors is increasing
by leaps and bounds. A first round BU11 match went nearly an hour
in an exciting five game match that featured many long rallies.
Such a match would have been nearly unheard of even a few years ago. Clearly the depth of
competition among US juniors has increased dramatically in the last few
years. A parent from Singapore whose son played at the Hong Kong
Junior Open, one of the world’s top junior events, marveled at the high
level of play and the depth at the tournament. Forty five percent
of the matches went to at least four games. There are as many good stories to tell, and no doubt we will miss many of them in this short report. The tournament offered
free entry and housing with meals to urban squash program players and
Squash Haven’s Osuman Imoro, who won the national title in BU15 in the
2013 National Urban Individual Championships, played in his first-ever
BU17 Gold. Imoro played extremely well, and reached the
consolation semis. Marina Stefanoni who
is ranked #1 USA in GU11 came to the tournament with 20 consecutive
wins in GU13, including four straight Gold titles. The 10-year
old phenom played up into her first ever GU15 gold and continued to
impress, reaching the classic plate finals. Eleonore Evans
(Maryland), who made the finals in the GU15 national championship won
her first gold in GU17, rallied from a 2-1 deficit to pull out a 12-10
victory in game five over finalist Lindsay Stanley. Rising Baltimore star
Ben Francis played in just his second BU19 Gold event and nearly scored
a major upset in the quarters, where he jumped out to a 2-1 lead over
#1 seed Sean Kenny. The match featured four game scores of 12-10,
including game five, where Kenny sealed the victory. Age Group Champions: BU11: John P. Ho, Winner Lucas G. Spiro, Finalist 6-11,13-11,11-6,11-9 BU13: Charles F. Mattson, Winner Rohan Korn, Finalist 11-8,11-6,11-7 BU15: Burke S. Giordano, Winner Duncan Joyce, Finalist 11-9,11-10,11-8 BU17: David M Yacobucci, Winner Alex Jung, Finalist 11-9,13-15,11-2,11-0 BU19: Max D Reed, Winner Jarett M. Odrich, Finalist 11-9,12-10,11-6 GU11: Molly B. Stoltz, Winner Devon Shatzman, Finalist 11-7,11-8,11-3 GU13: Binney B. Huffman, Winner Eujung Park, Finalist 13-11,5-11,11-8,11-6 GU15: Ona Prokes, Winner Caroline Q. Neave, Finalist 7-11,8-11,11-7,11-8,11-7 GU17: Eleonore L Evans, Winner Lindsay H. Stanley, Finalist 10-12,11-6,8-11,11-1,12-10 GU19: Casey S Wong, Winner Devin Mullaney, Finalist 11-2,8-11,11-4,11-7
