The Winter 2007 UC Davis WCRC tournament was a big success ... We had 50 participants, a racquetball clinic, and a very special guest!

The balanced Davis Men’s team scored well in each of the three Men’s divisions, combining with the strong Davis women’s team - which scored almost half of Davis’ total points - for a tournament winning 1040 points. Despite the very strong showing from the Sacramento Men’s team, the Berkeley women’s team finished strongly enough to give Berkeley the closely contested second place over Sacramento: Berkeley 854 points, Sacramento 826 points.

Tim Cowan from San Diego State University made the trip all the way to Davis to play in his first WCRC tournament and finished second in Men’s II - thanks Tim! Jongyoon Peck from Stanford won Men’s II, so welcome Jongyoon to Men’s Division I.

Adam Riech from Berkeley is new to the WCRC this year and made a big improvement from the Fall WCRC tournament to win Men’s Division III ! See you in Div II !

Justine Cone is back on top winning Men’s Division I ! But close behind is one of the top new WCRC players, Alejandro Ron, who finished second in Men’s Division I ! Both players are from Sacramento, and with the addition of Ruben Cruz to Men’s I and Josh Martinez to Men’s II, Sacramento continues to have the strongest Men’s team.

THANK YOU Matt Hills (Stanford) for putting together the draws and helping to run the tournament. And, THANK YOU Josh Lenhof (UC Davis) for coordinating closely with the UC Davis staff, and successfully working through many details to get this tournament hosted at UC Davis.

WE'RE LOOKING FOR MORE PICTURES - PLEASE SEND PICTURES AND VIDEO TO jbardos@ucsc.edu and hills(at)tina.stanford.edu.

• Summary

• Women's Gold
• Women's Blue
• Women's Red / White

• Men's I Gold
• Men's I Blue
• Men's I Red / White

• Men's II Gold
• Men's II Blue
• Men's II Red / White

• Men's III Gold
• Men's III Blue
• Men's III Red / White

 

Women’s WCRC racquetball is continuing to grow. Ji Youn Lee is new this year to the Davis team, and has won the Women's Division at both tournaments this year! Tami McLaughlin and Martina Keova were the first two women to represent a Santa Cruz women’s team, and they competed very well in this tournament - their first tournament ever! And, we had a new WCRC school and women’s player: Faith Walstrum from Solano State - she finished 3rd overall! Anna Trinidad (Sacramento) and Christine O’Neil (Stanford) are also new women’s players this tournament, and we hope to continue to see them all in future events.

Very Special Guest

Our very special guest this tournament was Aubrey O’Brien - the 2006 US National Junior Olympic Champion, Girls 14 & Under. Aubrey has just recently turned Pro and is ranked 33rd in the world! Aubrey took on all willing participants in the “Challenge the Champion” and dazzled the crowd with her hard hitting shots combined with careful control and placement. She also
held a women’s racquetball clinic teaching the ease with which *anyone* can hit the ball HARD and with control. You can read more about Women’s Professional Racquetball at: http://www.LadiesProRacquetball.com We look forward to having more clinics involving more people at future WCRC events - court space permitting!

Thank you Ektelon and John Ellis for bringing us Aubrey and making this WCRC tournament extra special!

 

Thank you E-Force for bringing people, equipment and expertise to this tournament!

 

Our next tournament is *tentatively* scheduled for Saturday, March 3rd in San Jose.

-- John Bardos, Feb. 3, 2007