[DRAWS] [DIRECTIONS] [ROSTERS]
Feb
13th , Cambridge MA -
51 Teams & 500 Competitors Compete
For Seven College Squash National Titles
A record field of fifty one collegiate squash
teams, including 50 American colleges and universities and
one from Canada, will compete in the National College
Team Squash Championships, presented by Bear
Stearns,
this weekend in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Defending
their national title, and their 179 match win streak, will
be the Trinity College Bantams from Hartford,
Connecticut. Trinity has held the National title
for nine consecutive years. Expected to give Trinity stiff
competition will be the second ranked Princeton University
Tigers. Play begins Friday morning,
February 15th, at 9:00 AM and goes through Sunday at 4:00PM. Matches
will be contested at four locations across Boston and Cambridge:
Harvard University Murr Center, MIT Zesinger Center, Northeastern
University Badger and Rosen Center, and the Belmont Hill
School.
"Collegiate squash has simply exploded over the past decade," said
CSA executive director Ron Beck, "That is
displayed no where else more clearly than at this event. We
have four more teams competing this year than last, and eight
more than two years ago. In fact we have had to add another
division and another national trophy this year to make room
for the growth."
Titles will be awarded in seven divisions,
with the competitors grouped into tiers of eight teams, based
on most current national rankings.
Teams competing for the
first time ever on the national college squash stage will
include a group from Tulane University in
New Orleans, a new team from the University of
Vermont in Burlington, VT and a group from sports
powerhouse, the University of North
Carolina.
The biggest success story of the year,
coming into the Nationals, is the rapidly improving team
representing the University of
Rochester, coached by former international pro star, Martin
Heath. Heath, the former world #4, has assembled
a group of student athletes that has moved up seventeen ranking
positions in two seasons, an unprecedented rise. Rochester
is playing a special qualifying match against Williams
College, prior to the start of the draw, for a position
in the top bracket for the national championship Potter Cup. The
winner of Rochester /Williams , the eighth seed, draws defending
champion Trinity in the first round. Rounding out the
top eight, who will compete for the national crown, are Princeton
[2], Harvard [3], Yale [4] (Harvard and Yale play this Wednesday
to determine their final order), Western Ontario, Canada
[5], University of Pennsylvania [6], and Dartmouth [7].
Final
draws and match times are available on the College Squash
(CSA) website www.collegesquash.org . Admission
is free for all matches. Spectator attendance for the
weekend is expected to exceed five thousand. The championships
are sponsored by Bear Stearns, Harrow Sports and Dunlop
Sport and are administered by the College
Squash Association.
For more information contact: College
Squash Association, Ron Beck, Executive Director 978-266-1300, csa@squashtalk.com . Draws,
scores throughout the weekend, and directions to the venues
will all be published at www.collegesquash.org
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