There were no officially sanctioned events this past weekend, but there was an event that used to be an IRT stop that still drew a slew of top males that’s worth recapping. It was the 2024 Capital Classic, held at the Severna Park Club just outside of Baltimore.
I’ve played at this club many times and have good memories of it. I once made a 30+ age group final there and took one the better players in the area to an 11-9 breaker before losing. It was at this club that my good friend Ben Hale taught our young racquetball playing friend Travis Woodbury how to drive a stick shift …. in my car … because I was inside drinking beer and he had drawn the short stick to drive us back to Arlington that night.
This club, and this event, used to be an IRT stop, taking over for the long-serving Laurel Sportfit club when it became a Covid casualty. It continues to be the regular stop in December for the LPRT but it seems like funding for the men has gone away. This club will always hold an important point of IRT history: it was on these courts that Kane Waselenchuk tore his Achilles heel in September 2022, drastically changing the course of the tour for the next two years.
That being said, the club and the area serve as home for a few former touring pros (@Mario Mercado, Sebastian Franco, and @Mauricio Zelada) and when players of that calibre play, others make the drive. Or, as was the case this weekend, extend their visa stay a week after last week’s Spokane event and pick up another event. This included IRT #2 @Rodrigo Montoya Racquetball and his doubles partner @Javier Mar, who formed the two top seeds in singles and the favorite team in doubles for the weekend.
Lets recap the action.
r2sports page: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=42218
In Men’s Open Singles, the Kelley brothers drove down from Jersey and each got an international round of 16 opponent. #9 Joe fell to Bolivian #8 Subieta, but #7 Sam got past Colombian #10 @set Ceballos. Excellent Ohio player Victor Migliore blanked New York’s Aaron Dardani in the opening round, while top Maryland amateur #5 John Behm silenced NC’s Sanz.
In the quarters, the two traveling tour pros Montoya and Mar, plus the two local former top-10 touring pros Mercado & Franco all advanced. Mercado labored over Migliore 14,14, while Montoya dropped a game to Subieta, but all advanced.
In the semis, Montoya outlasted home town favorite Franco in a hard-hitting display of power racquetball, while Mar outclassed the always-tough Mercado to setup a 1-v-2 final, ironically a rematch of the round of 16 match in Spokane. In that final, Montoya didn’t let his partner get started and won 8,8
Men’s Doubles Review:
There were eight teams that ended up playing in two RR groups, giving the players and the fans a ton of action. In group 1, top seeds Montoya & Mar swept the group, but were certainly pressed by Sam Kelley & Set Cuballos in the group final. Meanwhile, local boys Franco & Mercado took their group … but nearly were upset in the group final by joe Kelley & Migliore.
In the winner-take-all final, Montoya & Mar won going away 6,11 for the Montoya double.