Category: PRS Admin

I normally do a 3-part “Season in Review” post for both tours … but suddenly i look up and its mid August and … well I just don’t have time to do that much work. I already had this huge post in the can, so here it goes. I’ll do a similar top 10 review for the ladies later this month and then we’ll be ready for the new season to kick off.

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First, before we begin, a history lesson, to help explain how the top 10 was determined for this season, since this was definitely a unique season.

For decades, the IRT was set to work in a “fall to spring” schedule, not unlike what the NBA and NHL does. The reason is simple: as an indoor sport, the winter months are when players play, so it makes sense to do fall to spring and have the season run from July 1st to June 30th each year. However, the Covid year presented an issue; all indoor play essentially shut down in March of 2020 and did not start back up for the rest of the year, so the commissioner and IRT board made the understandable decision to pivot to a year-long season starting on Jan 1st 2021, and the tour stuck with the Jan-to-Dec schedule for several seasons. When the tour pivoted to new ownership/new management in December 2024, they also went back to the prior schedule. Instead of awarding a tour winner in June of 2025 based on just a handful of events that spring, the tour went to a 2025-26 18month schedule where the best 10 results would be used to determine the winner.

So, In the end, the 2025-26 season lasted 18 months and featured 13 Tier 1 events and at least 10 Satellite events. The best 10 results for each player comprised their total points, and that’s how the rankings for the 2025-26 season came to be. I keep a Rolling Calendar of points online, which I initially created to capture a 2-year sample of points for a what-if analysis surrounding a season where Kane missed a ton of time, and have kept it current for the better part of the last decade.

https://docs.google.com/…/1z6eg6NJT6fjGMfRRyKTN…/edit…

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Here’s a couple of links useful to have bookmarked as you read t his.

– 2025-26 Final Rankings: https://rball.pro/b147b4

– 2025-26 Season Summary Report, my “go-to” summary report for the tour:

– Current IRT rankings on irttour.com:https://www.irttour.com/singles-rankings/

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Ok, lets get to it.

#1: Kane Waselenchuk : 3545 points. 5 wins, 3 finals. King Kane continues to set records every time he steps onto the court, winning his 16th career season-end title on tour at the age of 44yrs 216 days. The new age-based standard record he broke this year was, “Oldest Player to finish in the top 10,” which he now owns for his finish, breaking the record of @Rocky Carson in 2022. Waselenchuk ended up wrapping up the season title with an event to spare, giving him a victory lap of sorts in the season’s final event in St. Louis.

Prognosis for 2026-27 season: Kane went through a streak of 3 straight losses to his top rival Moscoso this season, but rebounded for a decisive win in Fountain Valley to break that streak and set himself up to secure the title a few weeks later. He ends the season looking better than ever, and seems well positioned for another run. I sense the 2027-28 season will be the same we saw this season; two players clearly head and shoulders above the rest. Father time is undefeated though, and Kane will be turning 45 halfway through the season; can he keep this going? Previews of these events have to consider the obvious: a player at 45 is going to have aches and pains that a 30yr old just doesn’t. Prediction: Kane gets pipped for #1 and finishes 2nd next season.

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#2: Conrrado Moscoso 2989 points. 4 wins, 2 finals. Conrrado looked for a good portion of this season like he had finally taken the leap. For years, we’d watched as the Bolivian struggled to beat Kane. Then suddenly in Dec 2025 he put everything together for a stretch of 3 months, got 3 straight wins over his rival, and had the season title in his sights. Then, he took a bad loss in Chicago right when he needed to keep the pressure on, and when Kane turned the tides and figured out the adjustment he needed to win in California in Mid April, the game was up. Conrrado didn’t even travel to the final event of the season thanks to Bolivian unrest and visa processing delays, but it didn’t matter. He was locked into the #2 spot on tour. He’s now got 13 Tier 1 victories in his career at the age of 30, good for 12th all time. His .804 Winning percentage is elite; he sits behind only Kane and Marty.

Prognosis for 2026-27 season: I think Moscoso is running out of time before he starts his own age-based decline, but more importantly before his countryman Jhonathan Flores catches up to him. I think next season is the one where it all comes together for Conrrado and he takes the title. He’ll have to stay healthy, hope that Kane struggles a bit with fitness, and he continues to maintain his focus. Prediction is #1 for 2027.

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#3 Andres Acuna, 2280 points. 2 wins this season. Acuna won the final event of the season, which propelled him just above Jake for the #3 spot on tour. It’s his career high season-ending rank, and amazingly it is the 7th straight season he has improved upon his season-ending rank. His finals win in St. Louis also marked a career benchmark; it was his 100th win on tour, becoming the 50th player in tour history to join that Century club.

Acuna certainly takes advantage of opportunity; in his career he’s made just two finals and won them both. He’s managed to maintain his top 4 ranking for large parts of the season by consistently making runs into the quarters and semis. His one bad loss this year was an 11-10 loss to Trujillo in the 16s of Pro Nationals.

Prognosis for next season: I think Acuna’s run of improving his ranking each year is over; he’s just 1-12 against Kane and Conrrado for his career, 1-15 if you include his now-3 meetings with Flores. I think he slips down to the 4th or 5th range next season as Flores makes a run.

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#4 Jake Bredenbeck: 2126 points. 1 win, 2 finals. Last year, I was worried that Bredenbeck’s time was up; he finished 9th, had a bunch of early losses, and was entering that “dangerous” age range where players, especially bigger stature, power players, start to drop off precipitously. Well, Jake flipped the script this season, getting a tier 1 win, beating Kane twice (both times facilitating his getting to a final), and maintaining consistency throughout the year. He had just one “bad” loss, a round of 16 loss to Diego Garcia way back in Feb 2025, the second event of the season. From there, He ended up making the quarters or better in every tournament he played. He was clipped in the final event, knocking him #3, which would have tied his career best year end showing.

Prognosis for next season: Jake seems certain to take at least a small step back, as Flores is hot on his heels and beat him in 3 of their 4 meetings this season. They’ll certainly meet early in the new season in the quarters as the #4 and #5 seeds in the quarters, and it may continue from there depending on how the rest of the tour goes. I think Jake will slip back into the 7-8 range.

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#5 Rodrigo Montoya, 1854 points. 1 Final, 4 semis. After peaking at #2 to finish the 2024 season, Montoya was the only top player who played in all 13 Tier 1 events this season, a surprise given that he’s generally struggled to make events throughout the course of his career. He did make one final this year, in Pleasanton at the Golden State Open in Oct 2025, but his season was marred by a slew of early losses. He took a round of 32 loss to Sam Murray in Chicago in Mar 2025 (not a bad loss, but a bad round to lose in from a points perspective), and he had three round of 16 losses (to Portillo, Carter, and Gastelum) this season. Those are just not losses a top 4 player can take and continue to stay in the top 4. He was Jeckyl and Hyde all year, and probably had his best win of the season in the very last event, when he beat up-and-coming Jhonathan Flores 12,14 in St. Louis.

Prognosis for 2026-27: I think Montoya’s struggles continue, and he falls down the standings a bit. It seemed rare for him to make all the events, and that combined with weird early losses will conspire against him. I think he slips a little bit to like #6.

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#6 Jhonathan Flores, 1777 points. 1 win, 3 semis.

At the beginning of the 2025 season, Flores was an enigma. He was the reigning 18U junior champion from Bolivia … but Bolivia has had a slew of 18U champions over the years who did not impact the pro tour. Flores had one big run at the 2024 Shamrock Shootout, but that was it. Even for the first half of 2025 his results were “close but no cigar” type events; he had a couple close losses to top pros, a couple of11-10 losses to Parrilla, he took Moscoso to a breaker. It wasn’t until the beginning of 2026 that players started taking note. He blew through both Parrilla and Jake to get to the semis of the Minnesota event. He played Moscoso tough in Sioux Falls. Then, he got a favorable draw in Chicago to take the title. He won a Tier 1 in just his 11th ever IRT appearance, which is heady territory. He continued pushing the top players the rest of the season, finishing 6th despite missing three events.

Prognosis for 2026-27: In between Sept 2025 and the final event of the 2026 season, the only players on tour who Flores lost to were Kane and Conrrado. That’s no coincidence. I feel Flores is going to continue to push his way into the semis on the regular, and will soon settle into the #3 seed on tour, regularly facing Moscoso in the semis and starting a fun rivalry. For now, Conrrado has his number, but perhaps not forever. I think he finishes 3rd this season and will start to push for #2 by season’s end.

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#7 Eduardo Portillo, 1520 points, 3 finals, 1 semi, 5 missed events.

Portillo’s schedule is the only thing holding him back. Despite missing 5 of the 13 events this season thanks to his flying schedule, he still managed to finish 7th. If you turned all those absences into quarters or semis runs, he’s closer to 3rd. Talent wise, Four of his 8 losses this season were to Kane, who he then put a loss on himself at the final event of the season.

Prognosis for 2026-27: Lalo has what it takes to finish top 4, but he can’t help his schedule. I think he continues to beat everyone not named Kane or Conrrado on the regular, misses some events here and there, but still manages to finish 5th.

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#8 Andree Parilla, 1500 points, 1 final, 3 semis.

Parrilla missed out on 7th place by just 20 points, but is now in that dangerous 8th spot that plays a tough round of 16 and then the top seed every week. After six straight seasons in the top 5, he’s slipped a bit, and may struggle to get back there.

He’s competitive against his fellow top 8 players, with wins against Acuna, Flores, jake, and Adam this season. The truth is that he’s in a group of players who, any given Sunday, are beating each other up in the quarters.

Prognosis for 2026-27: I see no reason that he doesn’t stay right in the same 7-8 range; I don’ t think he can beat the top 3 players, and he’s struggled against Acuna if he can get that match up in 4/5 seed, which means he’s regularly ending events in the quarters.

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#9 Adam Manilla, 1479 points, 2 semis, 6 quarters.

Manilla worked his way back from an injury that cost him his career high ranking at the end of 2024 of #3 and saw him slip all the way out of the top 10 by March of 2026. He battled back, got some solid wins and finished #9.

Prognosis for 2026-27: its tough to see where the wins in the quarters are coming from for Adam. He got a win over Moscoso this season, but it was a career first. He’s just 3-5 career against Acuna. He’s a regular in the quarters, hard to see wins past that on the regular, which puts him right in the same 8-9 spot he’s in this year.

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#10 Javier Mar, 1469 points, 1 semi, 8 quarters.

Mar had a career high finish this season, his first time in the top 10. Which is amazing, given that he’s been a constant presence on tour for a decade. He’s almost automatic for the quarters, but has struggled to get much past that juncture. Like several others in this 5-10 range, he’s got a full time job that sometimes prevents him from traveling. He also battled injuries here and there for the past year and a half or so. His best result of the season came way back in Mar 2025, where he blasted Sam Murray in the quarters for his best win of the season.

Prognosis for 2026-27: For years, Mar was always my dark horse upset pick. But after missing just one event in the last year and a half, his place on tour is pretty solidified; he’s a lock for the quarters, and needs something crazy to happen to either get upset before that or to move past that. that puts him right back in the same 8-10 spot he is now, trying to hold off the guys in the 11-15 range. He’s got a big enough lead that i think he can hold on to #10 one more year.

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That’s it for the top 10 on the @International Racquetball Tour last season.

I got a message recently from Felipe Mercado, asking if I could “cover” the IRT title race or explain it in more detail. Great idea. I write a quick points race summary after each IRT event, but it’s worth writing a larger missive to discuss where we are, how the race is going to be decided this year, and what’s at stake in the season’s final few events.

One of the first things the new International Racquetball Tour regime did upon taking over was to pivot back to a fall-to-spring schedule, as was in place for the first 50 years or so of the tour. This immediately led to a conundrum; should the tour award a shortened “2024-25” season just based on the first half of 2025’s events (there were just 3 events in the first six months of 2025), or should they go with a “super season” spanning a year and a half? The team went with Option B.

So, now as we sit in March of 2026, the tour is rolling towards the 6/30/26 official end of the 2025-26 season, and will soon be awarding the next season-ending titlist.

Quick level setting on points: for a regular Tier 1/IRT-700 event, the points awarded are as follows:

– 420 points for first place

– 280 points for second place

– 210 for the semis

– 140 for the quarters

– 70,35,18 for 16s, 32s, 64s.

(Note: the tour has had one IRT-800 level event; Tracktown, which adjusts the above scale slightly upwards. It’s possible one of the 3 remaining events also gets enough money to be an 800 level event, which would slightly alter this analysis).

The points basically follow the prize money: “IRT-700” means $700 for each round advanced. So, if you get to the semis, you’ve advanced 3 rounds and earn $2100. The winner gets a bonus for, you know, winning.

Given that there’s projected to be 12 Tier 1 events in the 18-month season, plus a slew of satellite events, the tour has decided that the best 10 results over the last 18 months for each player will determine their year end ranking. Satellite tournaments count as well; if someone wins a satellite event (worth 75 points) that result can replace a round of 16 loss (worth 70) or a round of 32 loss (worth 35) or even a missed Tier 1 event for the player. These events will absolutely help determine the rankings for players 3rd and below, and may factor into the top 10 race (an arbitrary cut-off but one that I have built reporting around for historical purposes), but the top two players are entirely about the Tier 1s.

The race for #1 is a two-horse race. Kane Waselenchuk currently has the lead with 2515 points, and Conrrado Moscoso is in second place with 2267 points. These two are more than 650 points ahead of the 3rd place @Andres Acuna

and 4th place Jake Bredenbeck ; the only way these two can get back into the race is if Kane & Conrrado both quit the tour tomorrow.

So, lets talk about where we are and what can happen. There’s some salient points to talk about before we play some what-if scenarios:

– The loss of the 2026 planned US Open in June means there’s just three tier 1s remaining: the Papa Nicholas Chicago event in two weeks time, the Player’s Championship in Fountain Valley in April, and Pro Nationals the first weekend of May in Montana.

– There will be exactly 12 Tier 1s included in the 18-month schedule.

– Moscoso got hurt in early 2025; he tweaked his knee in the round of 32 at last year’s Minnesota event and lost: this gave him a 35-point result and knocked him out of the next event.

– Moscoso recovered in time for the Sept 2025 World Singles & Doubles event … but ran into Kane in the round of 16 and lost, giving him a 70-point result.

– So, Moscoso netted just 105 points for these three events. Meanwhile, Waselenchuk won 2025 Minnesota, lost in qtrs of 2025 Chicago, and lost in the finals of World Singles and doubles for a combined 840 points to Moscoso’s 105 for those events. That’s a lot of points that Moscoso can “make up” with an extra six months of events to bolster his top 10 results. However, the loss of the US Open was critical; it took the total # of Tier 1s from 13 to 12, meaning Conrrado will have to “keep” one of these super-low results in his final tally. Even if he went to one of the two remaining satellites and wins it for a 75 point result, it will barely matter; he’s got to replace a 0, 35, and 70 result and at best he’ll only improve his 70-point result by 5 points assuming he advances deep into the 3 remaining Tier 1s.

Now, how about Kane?

– Well, Kane missed last year’s Golden State Open (to attend a wedding), and otherwise his lowest Tier 1 results are a qtrs injury-aided loss at last year’s Chicago event (140 ) and a semis loss in SoCal to Moscoso (210).

– So, Kane can make at least the qtrs in the remaining 3 events and improve upon both his 0 and his 140-point results. If he makes the finals of all three, he’ll replace all three of these results with higher-point totals.

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Ok that’s all fine and dandy, and probably confusing, but is Kane in jeopardy of losing the year end title race? Yes he is … but he’s in the driver’s seat in some respects. Here’s some scenarios:

Scenario 1: Conrrado wins all 3 remaining events and Kane makes the final in all three. Conrrado replaces his 3 lowest scores with 3 wins, while Kane does the same with three 280-point finals. The two players 10 best results will thus look like this:

– Moscoso: 7 wins, 2 semis, 1 round of 16. That would total 3464 per my projections.

– Waselenchuk: 3 wins, 6 finals, 1 semi: That would total 3215.

Scenario 2: Conrrado beats Kane in the final and wins 2 of the three remaining events, but Kane beats Conrrado in the final of the third:

– Waselenchuk: 4 wins, 5 finals, 1 semi: That would total 3355

– Moscoso: 6 wins, 1, final, 2 semis, 1 round of 16. Total: 3324

Just that one flip of a win vs a final would be enough for Kane to secure the title. And, it won’t be close enough for Moscoso to bother going to a Satellite event to gain 5 points; it’ll be game over.

If Kane is upset in any of the 3 remaining events prior to the finals, the pathway for Conrrado to win the title correspondingly becomes easier but not a lock. Same goes for Moscoso: if he loses in an early round, he won’t have the opportunity to “replace” those March 2025 results with anything substantive, and Kane would then roll to the title.

So, the rest of the season is simple: Conrrado needs to win out to guarantee he is in control of his own destiny to get the title. And, if Kane can win one, he’ll almost guarantee his 16th pro tour title.

Here’s what I’m hoping for: Moscoso wins the next two over Kane in the finals, and we head to the Pro Nationals event with a “winner take all” scenario. We’ve had multiple seasons where the race wasn’t decided until the very last tournament, and in some cases the very last final of the very last tournament: Kane over Huczek in 2004 and again in 2006, Cliff in 2002, Sudsy in 1996, Kane over Rocky in 2015 being the most recent examples.

Can’t wait to see how the next couple of events play out, to see if we get that pressure-packed last event.

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I have a per-event rolling points XLS that emulates the IRT official rankings at this Google sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1z6eg6NJT6fjGMfRRyKTNLShAiDoz0TzzmQCt1_SbNBo/edit?usp=sharing

Unfortunately, the Microsoft XLS formula I use to find the “best 10 results” doesn’t translate to Google’s formulas, so they’re broken online It’s too bad, because i put in a little “what-if” analysis section for the final three events that you can see online.

The actual running official IRT Rankings are here: https://irttour.com/rankings/