This past weekend the UL-Monroe racquetball crew in Louisiana held their annual Warhawk Open, a well-sponsored and well-attended event in North Louisiana run by three very active racquetball community members in Mark Thompson, Parker Ewing and Steve Semones.
For the second year running, they teamed up with the IRT’s World Team Racquetball Division (WTR), run by @mike Kinkin, and hosted team competitions. This team concept has had some excellent showings in the past, and is something everyone is still trying to get off the ground, so we wanted to give a shout out to those running the event.
Here’s a recap of the team and open events from last weekend.
R2 sports site: https://www.r2sports.com/website/event-website.asp?TID=52179
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Team Competition: there were four “pro” teams in Louisiana:
– KWM Gutterman Kingz: Dylan Pruitt • Austin Cunningham • Craig Clemente
– Culligan Waterboys: Diego Gastelum • Raymond Flowers • Lance Hale
– Dovetail Thunderbolts : Ezequiel Subieta • Destry Everhart • Michael Perez
– Louisiana Lasers : Jhonatan Flores • Maurice Miller • Marquis Miller
The team competition format was as follows: The 3 players would play for 5-point stretches (any 5 points scored, so it could be 0-5 one way or 3-2 the other way) then switch off, with the matchups determined by the “home team” in each match. They played one-serve, best of 3 USAR scoring style, using the IRT’s FormulaFlow ball.
– In one semi: the Culligan Waterboys upset the top-seeded and defending champs KWM Gutterman 11-8 in the breaker.
– In the other semi, the Louisiana Lasers crushed the Dovetail thunderbolts in two games behind the latest IRT champ Flores.
In the final, the Lasers beat Culligan 12,4 to take the title.
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In the “Amateur” team event, The Culligan Waterboys Elite team squeaked out an 11-10 finals win over the KWM Gutterman Kingz Elite.
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Men’s Open Singles: Gastelum took out Subieta in the final.
Men’s Open Doubles: Gasetelum got the double win, taking the doubles final with partner Craig Clement in an injury walkover over Flores & De marco.
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Thanks to the tourney directors and the litany of sponsors for keeping Racquetball Alive in north Louisiana.