Tag: cayden aikens

Posted on

2019 USAR High School Nationals Wrap-up

Antonio Rojas repeats as HS National Champ

Congrats to your 2019 High School Gold/#1 division singles champions:
– Boys Gold Singles Champion: Antonio Rojas
– Girls Gold Singles Champion: Annie Roberts

They also played doubles; here’s the doubles titlists:
– Boys #1 Doubles: Vedant Chauhan & Eric Liu
– Girls #1 Doubles: Annie Roberts & Kelsey Klinger
– Mixed #1 Doubles: Vedant & Nikita Chauhan.

A special shout-out to Vedant Chauhan; two titles and a final on the weekend. His sister Nikita Chauhan had a win and a final, and Roberts was a double-winner.

————————–

r2sports link for the event: http://www.r2sports.com/tourney/home.asp?TID=30309

The also played doubles and had team competitions; see the R2sports link for all the results.

420 entrants this year, a great number and a great job to all those organizers and sponsors who really worked to make this a fantastic event. Congrats to all.

A quick reminder: we do not currently have High Schools or Intercollegiates in the database. This is just a wrap up as a fan of the game.

Quick wrap-up of the Two Singles events:

———————
In the Boys Gold #1:

The semis comprised the #1, #2, #5 and #6 seeds. 
– #5 seeded Lucas Shoemaker got a Injury win over #4 Andrew Gleason, the World runnerup in 14-U this past summer. Shoemaker made the quarters of US 18U this past summer before losing to the now-graduated Dane Elkins.
– #6 Vedant Chauhan, who owns 3 USA junior titles and is playing in his 14U season, advanced over #35 seed Robert Arellano, who had previously topped the #3 seed Cody Boucher in an earlier round.

In those semis:
– Seven-time junior USA champ #1 Antonio Rojas topped #5 Shoemaker, in a rematch of last year’s USA 16U quarters, 6,13.
– #6 Chauhan easily downed #2 seed Cayden Aikens 8,6. Aikens made the finals of USA 16U and the quarters of 16U worlds last year. Chauhan is having an excellent tournament and will be a tough out in the final.

In the final, #1 Rojas ran away from Chauhan in game one and held on in game two for a two-game championship win 2,12. Rojas’ win means that the last six HS National boys champions hailed from California schools, a list that includes Rojas’ brother Mauro Rojas, and means that California prep players have now won 8 of the 32 historical HS national titles.

——————-
In the Girls Gold #1:

The semis were the #1, #2, #4 and #6 Seeds.
– #6 Arya Cyril upset #3 seeded Erin Slutzky, the finalist at 2018 16U, in an 11-9 tiebreaker.

In those Semis:
– #1 seed Annie Roberts, the reigning USA 16U champ and also the defending High School champ, topped #4 seed Alondra Canchola in a rematch of the 2018 16U quarters 3,8.
– #2 seed Nikita Chauhan, who owns two US junior titles and who made the 18U final in 2018, topped #6 Cyril by the skin of her teeth: 14,(8),10.

In the Final, #1 Seed Roberts defending her title, downing Chauhan 6,9 in the final. Robert’s titles continues dominance of this event by Oregon-based prep players: 11 of the 32 National HS titles have been won by players from Oregon. Roberts also becomes the first player to repeat as HS National champion since 4-time HS champ Lexi York held the title between 2012-2015.

Posted on

2018 World Juniors Wrap-Up

Eduardo “Lalo” Portillo finishes off his junior career with an 18U world title.

… as does Montserrat “Montse” Mejia.

The final International Racquetball Federation – IRF event of the season has finished up and new World Junior titlists have been crowned. Congrats to all the winners.

Here’s a review of the four eldest-most age categories (the ones that www.proracquetballstats.com currently tracks) and how the tournaments played out.

—————–
In the Boys 18U (PRS Match report: https://bit.ly/2DyPnRc)…

The two Americans both fought hard but fell at the quarter-final stage. Los Angeles native Dane Elkins took #1 overall seed Fernando Ruiz Michel to a tiebreaker, and Stocktonian Ricardo Ricky Diaz (brother of IRT pro Jose Diaz) played #3 seed Bolivian Gerson Miranda tough, eventually falling 13,12. The two Mexican top seeds both advanced tot he semis with ease.

In the semis, it was Bolivia vs Mexico on both sides of the draw … and it was both Mexican’s advancing to the final to force a rematch of the Mexican Nationals final in May. #4 Eduardo Portillo Rendon took out #1 seeded Fernando Ruiz Michel in two hard fought games, while #2 Sebastian Fernandez cruised past #3 seeded Gerson Miranda.

In the Final, we got a rematch of the Mexican 18U Junior National final from past May (won by Fernandez), the 18U selection event final in Mexico (again won by Fernandez) and a rematch of the 2016 16U World Juniors final (won by Portillo). On this day though, Portillo was the better player, dropping the first game 14 then cruising to the title (14),4,7.

—————–
In the Girls 18U (match report here: https://bit.ly/2AYIYMx)…

The knock-out rounds featured all four top seeds advancing with relative ease into the semis; only #4 Gaby Martinez had more than 3 points scored against her in any quarter-final game, downing Canadian Alexis Iwaasa 9,5.

In the semis, Martinez took out the #1 seeded Mexican Ana Laura Flores with ease 5,3, while #3 Montse Mejia took a close match against #2 Angelica Barrios 14,8.

The Final thus was a rematch of 2017’s 18U world championship (won by Mejia), and of the 2016 16U World championship (won by Martinez), and represents a fitting end to both players’ junior careers. A fantastic match ensued, with Mejia taking the first game 14, dropping the second game 8, then controlling the tiebreaker to down the reigning World Champ and defend her 18U world championship. Final score: 14,(8),6. Martinez is denied a chance at becoming just the second player ever to hold both a Junior and World Adult singles title simultaneously.

—————–
In the Boys 16U (match report here: https://bit.ly/2AYIYMx)…

The two top seeds advanced to the semis with little fan fare, with #1 Jose Carlos Ramos topping Texan Cayden Aikens in two, and #2 Bolivian Diego Garcia Quispe getting an injury fft win. #12 seed Mexican Guillermo Ortega “upset” the #4 seeded Bolivian Adrian Jaldin (though Ortega was the #3 seed entering the round robins) to make the semis. Lastly American #6 seed Sahil Thakur could not capitalize on a one-game lead and fell in a tiebreaker to #3 seed Ecuadorian Juan Sebastian Flores.

In the semis, Ramos topped fellow Mexican Ortega a rematch of the 16U National selection event in August (also won by Ramos), while pre-tourney favorite Garcia pasted Flores 3,2 to advance to the World final.

In the final, Garcia took a dominant win 4,10 over the #1 seed to take the title. Garcia did not drop a game in this tournament, and the 15-10 second game in the finals was the most any player scored on him in this tournament. He’s set to be a force to be reckoned with going forward.

—————–
In the Girls 16U (match report here: https://bit.ly/2qESWg9)…

The top four seeds advanced to the semis, taking out both Canadians (Juliette Parent and Cassie Prentice) as well as the lone remaining American (Annie Roberts).

In the semis, #1 seed Valeria Centellas advanced over the Mexican Guadalupe Griffin 5,10 while #3 Costa Rican Maricruz Ortiz topped the Mexican #1 Maria Fernanda Gutierrez, making for the only of these four finals to feature no Mexican juniors.

In the final, Centellas dropped the first game 9, then dominated the rest of the way, taking the final (9),4,3 to take the world 16U title for Bolivia.

—————–
Quick wrap of Doubles action:
– Boys 18U final featured four of the best singles players in the tourney, as Mexico and Bolivia went at it in a rematch of the scintillating RR match. In the final, the Mexican team of Fernandez and Rodrigo Rodriguez came out on top, getting revenge for their RR loss to the Bolivian team of Fernando Ruiz and Gerson Miranda for the title.

– Girls 18U final featured the top Mexican team versus Ecuador. The Mexican team of Ana Laura Flores and Abril Sacristan cruised to a world title.

– Boys 16U also featured Mexico vs Bolivia in the final (like the 16U). The Mexican team had to play just one match to get to the final (getting a bye and an inj-fft), but could not overcome the Bolivian team powered by the singles champ Garcia.

– Girls 16U was Bolivia vs Canada, who ousted the higher seeded Mexican team in the semis. On this day the Bolivians cruised to the title 8,7 over team Canada.

The Girls 16U final was notable for this fact; Bolivian Valeria Centellas won the Adult World doubles championships earlier this year with Yazmine Sabja Aliss and now holds the 16U junior worlds doubles championship … as far as we can tell, this is a first in the international game (having a player hold both the Adult and the junior world title in doubles).

——————
A quick note: as we’ve clearly been seeing for a while, the balance of power both in Juniors and on the pro tours is clearly no longer with the originating countries of the sport. USA and Canadian players failed to advance to even the semis in either 16U or 18U. Team USA did experience some success; the Americans swept the 14U doubles titles, made the finals of both 14U singles events and American Nikil Prasad won the boys 12U in dominant fashion. But the older levels were completely dominated by Mexico and Bolivia.