Congratulations to the winners of 2024 USA Racquetball High School Nationals:
– Boys #1 Singles: Nathan Rykhus, Franklin HS (Stockton Area)
– Girls #2 Singles: Andrea Perez-Picon, Sierra HS (Mantcea, CA).
– Boys #1 Doubles: Eli McCulley / Jonathan Bell, Lindbergh HS (St Louis)
– Girls #1 Doubles: Margaret McPheeters / Mia Risch, Kirkwood HS (St Louis)
And, the Team competitions:
– Boys Team: Kirkwood HS, St Louis
– Girls Team: Kirkwood HS, St Louis
– Overall Team: Kirkwood HS, St Louis
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Click here for the r2 site for the event and all the brackets: https://www.r2sports.com/portfolio/r2-event.asp?TID=41500
I do not load High School nationals data to any database, but I do keep track of the Gold #1 singles winners and Team winners in a spreadsheet that i’ve put online here:
Here’s some fun facts about HS Nationals from this year and years’ past:
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Both singles titles were taken by Stockton-area players, each of whom has some history at US Junior Nationals. Boys winner Rykhus is a 4-time Junior Nationals winner and is the 2-time defending 14U champ as we speak, which I imply to mean he’s a current HS freshman. He defeated Juan Herrera II from Illinois in the final. Rykhus seemingly has a chance to do something that no boy has ever done: be a 4-time High School Nationals champ. Taylor Knoth came the closest, winning 3 straight between 2007-09.
Meanwhile, the HS girls title was taken by Andrea Perez-Picon, also from the 209 Stockton area. She, like Nathan above, is also a 2-time defending 14U Junior National champ and thus seems to be a freshman, and has kicked off her HS nationals career on a winning note. She owns 7 junior national titles herself, with a chance for at least two more to finish off her 18U career and really place her name near the top of the record books. She has three more chances to join @Adrienne Haynes and Lexi York as four-time HS national champs (to be fair, Annie Roberts was poised to be a 4-time champ but her senior year was robbed by Covid, so she gets mentioned here). Perez-Picon topped California’s @Victoria Rodriguez in the final.
The doubles competitions where dominated by St Louis-area teams as one would expect, given the massive high school league there.
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Team competitions:
Kirkwood High School swept the three team competitions, which hasn’t happened since 2010. One of the big reasons it hasn’t happened in so long is the fact that St Louis University HS (aka “SLUH”) has dominated the boys competition for some time, having won the last 12 straight boys team titles. But this year, Kirkwood took the boy’s title, then crushed the girls title to easily win the overall title.
Kirkwood wins their 6th ever overall title and moves into 3rd place all time.