U. S. Girls Team Trials Set At Penn

The composition of the U. S. Girls squad that will compete in the biennial World Junior (i.e. under-19) Team Championships in Hong Kong in early August will be finalized at the Team Trials, which will be hosted by the Ringe Courts at the University Of Pennsylvania during the weekend of June 8-10.

Head coach Jack Wyant, who has led the Penn women into the top tier of the college game during his three years at the helm, will be hosting a team training camp later this month at Reflex Squash & Fitness in Wilmington a few weeks prior to their flying from JFK Airport to Malaysia on July 22nd for additional training leading up to the actual individual and team championships from August 1st through 11th. He is confident that the talented ’07 roster that he will be heading is capable of at least matching the 4th-place finish (behind Hong Kong, Egypt and England, in that order) that Lily Lorentzen, Kristin Lange, Amanda Siebert and Emory Maine garnered the last time this event was held two years ago.

Yale-bound Logan Greer, a top-16 finisher in the under-19 British Open, and under-15 British Open winner Olivia Blatchford have been awarded two of the four team positions based on they’re being the two top point-getters in the four Super Series tourneys (consisting of the Hunter Lott, the Frank Millet event and the U. S. Open and U. S. Closed) that the USSRA hosted this past season. The trials next weekend will involve the next six girls in the standings playing off for the two remaining slots, though all eight will travel to Malaysia and Hong Kong and all eight as well will be entered in the Individuals portion of the tournament.

In a change from the round-robin format used in prior season by US Squash to determine world team berths, this selection will be by a simple knock-out format.

At Penn, beginning next Friday afternoon, New Yorkers Julie Cerullo and Emily Park will face off, as will Philadelphians Anne Madeira and Emily Conant, for the right to challenge Natasha Kingshott and Sarah Toomey respectively in the Saturday early-afternoon semis. The third-place playoff is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, with the final to follow at noon.