CROSS COURTS JUNIOR BOYS OPEN

December 5-7, 2008

The Cross Courts Junior Boys Open was held on the weekend of December 5th-7th and attracted 86 players from throughout New England competing in U13, U15, U17 & U19 divisions.

After an overwhelming influx of nervous and excited players on Friday afternoon, everyone settled into the tournament and played out some hard fought but fairly contested matches. PAR 11 scoring was used for the tournament and the boys had no problems adjusting to the new scoring system.

In the U13 division the seedings were slightly upset with Cody Cortes (#4) facing Timmy Brownell (#3) in the final. In a hard fought match, Cortes emerged the victor 13/11, 5/11, 11/6, 11/7.

The U15 division pitted #1 seed William McBrian against #3 seed Charlie Blasberg. Blasberg had ground out a 5 set victory against #2 seed Tucker Hamlin in their semi final match. Another good, clean match saw McBrian justify his top seeding and edge out a fast closing Blasberg 11/4, 11/7, 8/11, 11/9.

The U17 final was an all Cross Courts affair with top seed Derek Chilvers squaring off against Scott DeSantis (#2). These two know each other’s game inside out as they practice regularly together on the Noble & Greenough School Varsity team. De Santis had the stronger start but Chilvers settled in and came away with the win, 10/12, 11/7, 11/3, 11/4.

Greg Crane proved to be the class of the U19 division and progressed to the final with a pair of 3/0 wins. In the final he faced Squashbusters’ Ronald German who had dispensed of fellow Squashbuster Ellery Kirkconnell in their semi final match. Kirkconnell had advanced by knocking off #2 Rodney Galvao in what must be regarded as the match of the tournament, 10/12, 13/11, 3/11, 12/10, 12/10!! Greg Crane proved too strong and quick for German, winning the final by a scoreline of 11/7, 11/4, 11/1.

All in all, it was a highly successful tournament. A huge “thank you” must go out to Tom Poor for all his hard work in promoting and helping at the event, not to mention the many hours he spent making the draws!! I would also like to thank Cory Schafer, Rich Schafer and Lenny Bernheimer for giving freely of their time to help make the tournament a success. Warren Cross also deserves some recognition for allowing the club to host the event and Cross Courts looks forward to seeing everyone again in ’09!

Dan Sharplin
Director of Squash
Cross Courts Squash & Fitness Center.