March 4, 2005

USAR National High School Championships Move Along in St. Louis

St. Louis, Mo. – The 2005 Wilson 18th USA Racquetball National High School Championships presented by Penn Racquet Sports moved closer to crowning new champions in both the boy’s and girl’s No.1 singles divisions. The winner in each of those divisions earn one-year appointments to the U.S. Junior National Team.

The top seeds had little trouble advancing to the quarterfinals in boy’s singles with seven of the top eight seeds earning a spot for Saturday’s action. Leading the way was top seed Mike Keddie (Memorial – Manchester, N.H.) with wins over Devan Van Valkenburg (Riverton – Bluffdale, Utah), 15-0, 15-2, in the round of 32, and then Mike Wyland (Christian Brothers – St. Louis, Mo.), 15-6, 15-3, in the round of 16. No.2 Allan Crockett (Oak Mountain – Birmingham, Ala.) also advanced with two straight game wins over John-Craig Chisholm (Marlborough – Marlborough, Mass.) and David Schwartz (Catlin Gabel – Portland, Ore.), respectively. Darrel Miller (Union Grove – Union Grove, Wisc.) scored a minor upset over No.8 Danny Lavely (Cuyahoga Valley Christian – Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio), 15-6, 15-2, to become the only unseeded player to reach the quarterfinals.

All of the top eight seeds earned spots in the quarterfinals of the girl’s No.1 singles division Friday – and all won in straight games. No.1 Ashley Willhite (Klamath Union – Klamath Falls, Ore.) defeated Gabrielle Shnurman (Martensdale-St. Mary’s – Prole, Iowa), 15-6, 15-13. No.2 Kara Mazur (Miss Porter’s – Avon, Conn.) also had little trouble advancing with a win over Kim Hamlin (Sprague – Salem, Ore.), 15-3, 15-8.

The 2005 Wilson 18th USAR National High School Championships continue Saturday with quarterfinal and semifinal action in the boy’s and girl’s No.1 singles division. There are also matches slated in 61 other divisions, including doubles. The matches are sure to heat up as the tournament draws closer to the finals, as players are not only vying for individual awards, but also playing for points to be applied towards the boy’s, girl’s and overall team titles.

For more information contact Ryan John, USA Racquetball Media Relations Director

at 719-635-5396 ext. 126 or via e-mail at RJohn@usra.org.

For more racquetball on the internet, go to www.usaracquetball.com