2006 USA Racquetball Junior Nationals - Friday
June 23rd, 2006 by Adam Katz
I mentioned the other day that the day before Junior Nationals begins is always my favorite day because there is no competition, therefore no disappointment. Well, today marked the beginning of the three most emotional days in Junior Racquetball as appointments to the US Junior Team began to be earned. The first four appointments to the Junior Team were earned today and the matches that produced those players were simply amazing.The match of the day was the Girl’s 18 semifinal between top seeded Kara Mazur and number 4 Michelle Key, they played for the title in the Girl’s 16 Singles last year with Kara winning in the breaker. Well today Michelle exacted her revenge. Playing point for point throughout, Michelle squeaked out the 11-10 victory. Of course, afterward you had the extremes of the day as Michelle celebrated her spot on the team, while Kara was very upset at this missed opportunity. She has another chance in the Girl’s 18 Doubles tomorrow, though, so all is not lost.
The other semifinal featured Former 16s World Champion, Ashley Willhite, against Sarah Hettesheimer. Again, another tough battle, but again the lower seeded Willhite prevailed. And yet more emotions from both players, ironically, both Sarah and Kara have opportunities to earn spots on the team via the doubles, but only one of them will earn it as they meet in the finals tomorrow with other partners.
In the Girl’s 16 Singles, Sharon Jackson and Sherrika Darnell have earned spots on the team for the next year by virtue of 2 convincing wins today.
The remaining spots on the team will be earned tomorrow and the singles national champions will be determined on Sunday.
Performances of note on the Girl’s side today were Danielle Key in the Girl’s 14s, Devon Pimentelli in the Girl’s 12s, Abbey Lavely in the Girl’s10s and Erika Manilla in the Girl’s 8s.
On the Boy’s side, the draws continued to shrink getting us to the semifinals. To date the seeds have held to form and tomorrow promises some truly great racquetball as more Junior Team Appointments are on the line. Today’s top performances were turned in by Mike Keddie in the Boy’s 18s, Jose Rojas in the Boy’s 16s, Taylor Knoth and Brad Kirch in the 14s, Marko Rojas in the 12s, Adam Manilla in the 10s, and Ryan Francis in the 8s.
As far as doubles is concerned, they are down to the finalists in each division and there are some great match ups to look forward to tomorrow.
Junior Team Coach Kelley Beane arrived in town today, as did World #2 Cheryl Gudinas for the weekend of meeting with the newest members of their team…our team. The first step in the process that will culminate with their participation at the Junior World Championships in December.
On the Team Colorado front, things went fairly well today. Tim Smith is done, but had a great day watching his teammates and all the other great matches. Kevin Hernandez fell out of the Red Division of the Boy’s 16 singles and that has ended his tournament, but Bryce Johnston still has one more doubles match left in the Boy’s 14 Doubles Consolation bracket.
Now for all of the good news! To start, Adam Manilla capped a perfect 3-0 day as he rolled through his singles 15-9, 15-8. Once again he continued mixing things up as he looks ahead to a semifinal showdown with Spencer Shoemaker from Ohio. In doubles, he and partner Sean Cooperrider fought threw a grueling battle with Kyle Ulliman and Spencer Shoemaker before winning in the tiebreaker 11-4. That match seemed to take something out of Kyle as they had to turn around and play in the Mixed 10 Doubles. Although the match went to a tiebreaker, the 11-0 scoreline left little doubt who had won. I know Adam was a very tired young man afterwards, but he is very focused on the task at hand. He really wants 3 gold medals.
His sister, Erika, was not to be outdone as she went 2-0 today with wins in the Girl’s 8 Singles and Girl’s 8 Multi Bounce. These wins place her in the finals of both divisions and she gets to enjoy a day off before those matches. Of course, she won’t really enjoy that, as I know that she will walk onto any open court she can find and hit for just a few minutes throughout the day tomorrow, it is just her nature.
Elizabeth Vargas also capped a 3-0 day today with a 15-14, 15-14 win in the Girl’s 10 Singles as well as wins in the 12/10 Doubles and 10 Mixed Doubles Consolation brackets. The Singles win puts her in the semifinals tomorrow and the Doubles win sets them up for a medal of some kind in that competition.
Matt McAdam also had a 2-0 day with wins in the Boy’s 10 Singles Blue division, as well as the Mixed 10 Doubles Consolation.
Zach Pellowski completed the perfect day for our youngest competitors with a victory in the Boy’s 10 Singles Blue Division. He and partner, Chris Francis from New Hampshire, await Adam and his partner Sean Cooperrider in the Boy’s 10 Doubles Final tomorrow morning at 10:30 Eastern time. This guarantees a Coloradan at least part of a national championship at these Junior Nationals.
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Entry Filed under: Racquetball News, USA Racquetball
Tags: 2006 Junior Nationals, Junior Nationals
