The Louisiana crew in Monroe held their annual Warhawk Open last wekeend, a well-attended event that draws from all over the southeast every year and continues to host IRT touring pros annually. This year, in a fun twist, the organizing group got with World Team Racquetball’s head Mike Kinkin to host an the 2nd iteration of the WTR team racquetball competition with some dignitaries on hand to watch and participate.
Two of the alumni teams from last year’s inaugural event were on hand: the Dovetail Thunderbolts and the KWM Gutterman Kingz, and they were joined by four new teams with increasingly awesome logos: the Texas Outlaws, the Culligan Waterboys, the Louisiana Lasers, and the Mississippi River Hogs. There were two competitions: a Pro version and an Amateur version.
Here were the team rosters (pulled from https://www.worldteamracquetball.com/ along with Kinkin’s help)
4 Pro teams:
KWM:
– Jaime Martell Racquetball
– Austin Cunningham
– @Naomi Ros
Coach: Kane Waselenchuk
Dovetail:
– Eduardo Portillo Rendon (hurt)
– @Maria Renee Rodríguez
– @jordan Walters
Culligan Waterboys
– Robby Collins
– Dylan Pruitt
– Annie Sanchez (last minute replacement for Erika)
Louisiana Lasers
– Cristina Amaya Cassino
– Maurice Miller
– Troy Warigon
Additionally, 6 amateur teams competed:
Texas Outlaws (amateur)
– Marcus Zuniga
– David Mendoza
– DJ Mendoza (coach)
– William J. Craig
Mississippi River Hogs (amateur)
– @Tim Risler (coach)
– Bradnado Turnquest
– Bob Jackson
– Michael Yourell
Culligan Waterboys (amateur)
– David Kerr Jr.
– @Blake Lockwood
– Craig Clement
Kings (amateur)
– @David Anastasio (coach)
– Raymond Flowers
– Chris Kendrick
– Matt Ray
Dovetail (amateur)
– Mike Kinkin
– David Graves
– Joey Limocello
– Steve Semones (coach)
Lasers (amateur)
– Brian Acuna (coach)
– Al Schof
– Kip Atwell
– Shawn Dedebant
(apologies for any typos here)
——————–
Lets recap the Team events and then the conventional divisions.
Pro Team event:
– In the top semi, #1 seed Dovetail took down the Louisiana Lasers, while the #2 seeds KWM ousted the pink-clad Culligan Waterboys.
In the final, KWM took advantage of a hobbled Portillo (nursing an arm injury he got in Chicago) to take the title.
Amateur Team Event:
– The Texas Outlaws squeaked by the Waterboys 11-10 to earn the final from the top-side, while KWM’s amateur team tried to emulate their pro counterparts with a solid win over Dovetail’s amateur side in the other semi.
– In the final, KWM made it two for two on the weekend with an 10,10 win over Texas.
———————–
Men’s Open/Pro Singles:
– #1 seed Pruitt held serve, topping USA Junior national DJ Mendoza in one semi.
– #2 Robbie Collins took out former IRT touring pro Maurice Miller in the other semi.
In the final, Pruitt got a very solid win over the #15 ranked IRT pro Collins, winning an 11-9 tiebreaker thriller for the singles title.
———————–
Men’s Open Doubles:
– Mendoza teamed with his junior national coach Collins to form a solid lefty/righty pair, and delivered the title. In the final they beat the top amateur team of Pruitt & Austin Cunningham in a breaker.
———————–
Bravo to all the team owners and those who participated. Can’t wait to see the next iteration, and I can only hope we get the same quality team names and logos as we got here.