Seattle Natives Lange and Rajan join Harrity as Lonely USA Winners  

The December marquee international Junior Open circuit — a string of four strong events at year end that attract international entries - (The Canadian, US, Scottish and British Junior Opens) continued last weekend, as US Squash took it's US Junior Open west, to Seattle Washington. [See also Canadian]

It was a brave and necessary move, in a bid to make junior squash in the USA more of a national rather than an east coast endeavor. But it had the predictable result of drastically thinning the ranks of the elite US junior players from the eastern seaboard who customarily crowd the draw of this event. With a few exceptions, the US juniors traveling to this event were limited to "favorites" who had strong expectations to make good on the expensive (in time and money) trip to the west coast with late-round results. It may also have discouraged some international entrants who are not accustomed to the Pacific Northwest as a simple US destination to get to.

And tournament entrants got somewhat more than they bargained for: An unusual wind storm knocked out power across Seattle, making a shambles of the tournament scheduling, and giving U19 winner Kristin Lange, a Seattle native, an even bigger hurdle than usual: her family home's power was out all weekend.

Partially as a consequence of the geographical shift of the event to the West Coast, the late rounds of most of the U15, U17 and U19 draws were heavily dominated by Canadians and South Americans.

There were a few bright spots for the Americans, and in particular the host city Seattle. Seattle girls Kristin Lange, in the Under 19s and Vidya Rajan, in the Under 15s swept to two trophies for the home town. For Kristin Lange, the UPENN freshman star, it was a particularly satisfying victory, as she defeated the Canadian Jr Open victor from the weekend before, Deon Saffery from England.

The boy's Under 15 was a reversal from the previous weekend up North, as this time Canadian Nicholas Sachvie defeated Mexican Miled Zarazus, who he had lost two in the Canadian final in Vancouver.

The boy's Under 19s was a Mexican affair, with twins Arturo and Cezar Salazar as finalists. This was a repeat of the Canadian Junior Open the prior weekend, won by Arturo. The Salazar boys have been fixtures at US Junior Opens for at least eight seasons, and reached the finals in their final appearances. After playing the prior week in Vacoouver, they chose not to play each other in the finals, with Arturo winning by forfeit.

The boys under 17's was captured by US team member Todd Harrity, in another bright spot for the Americans.

We salute US Squash's decision to move the event out of the East.

RESULTS: US Junior Open 2006, Seattle Washington
Girls U 19
Final:
[3] Kristin Lange (Seattle WA) def [1] Deon Saffery (UK) 3-0
Semis:
[3] Kristin Lange (Seattle WA) def [2] Logan Greer (Philadelphia PA) 3-2
[1] Deon Saffery (UK) def [4] Sarah Anne Parsons (CAN) 3-0

Girls U17
Final:
[1] Laura Gemmel (CAN) def [2] Catalina Pelaez (COL) 3-2
Semis:
[1] Laura Gemmel (CAN) def [4] Nicole Todd (CAN) 3-0
[2] Catalina Palaez (COL) def [3] Graciela Lopez (MEX) 3-2

Girls U15
Finals:
[1] Vidya Rajan (Seattle, WA) def [3] Shihui Mao (MAS) 3-2
Semis:
[1] Vidya Rajan (Seattle, WA) def [4] Danielle Letourneau (CAN) 3-0
[3] Shihui Mao (MAS) def [2] Alix Younger (CAN) 3-0

Girls U13
Finals:
[1] Amy Smedira (Ohio) def [2] Rachel Leizman (Ohio) 3-0
Semis:
[1] Amy Smedira (Ohio) def [5] Lorena Itzel Pena (MEX) 3-0
[2] Rachel Leizman (Ohio) def [6] Michelle Gemmell (CAN) 3-1

Boys U19
Finals:
[1] Arturo Salazar Martinez (MEX) def [2] Cesar Salazar Martinez (MEX) default
Semis:
[1] Arturo Salazar Martinez (MEX) def [4] David Glass (CAN) 3-0
[2] Cesar Salazar Martinez (MEX) def [3] David Letourneau (CAN) 3-2

Boys U17
Finals:
[1] Todd Harrity (Philadelphia) def [2] Andrew Schnell (CAN) 3-0
Semis:
[1] Todd Harrity (Philadelphia) def Jonathon Ramos (MEX) 3-0
[2] Andrew Schnell (CAN) def [3] Arjun Gupta (CAN) 3-0

Boys U15
Finals:
[2] Nicholas Sachvie (CAN) def [1] Miled Zarazus (MEX) 3-0
Semis:
[1] Miled Zarazus (MEX) def [5] Dylan Ward (Philadelphia) 3-0
[2] Nicholas Sachvie (CAN) def [3] Nicholas Hopcraft 3-0

Boys U13
Finals:
[1] Sam Conant (Philadelphia) def [2] Liam McClintock (MA) 3-2
Semis:
[1] Sam Conant (Philadelphia) def [4] Michael East (MD) 3-1
[2] Liam McClintock (MA) def [3] Julian Vargas (COL) 3-1