The 2006 IRT Lynmar Classic
LYNMAR CLASSIC
March 8-12, 2006
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Rocky Carson and Kwi Spinks at the Pro Am
Day one Qualifying
Lynmar Racquet and Health Club,home of the USA Racquetball National Training Center was ready to go today as twenty seven players battled for the right to make it into the main draw. There was a great contingent of young players from the University Of Colorado at Pueblo, the University of New Mexico, Northern Iowa University and students from Canada. The draw also featured a former top eight IRT professional Gerry Price and Woody Clouse. Charlie Pratt was able to outlast Gerry Price in five close games in round one and then saw a two game lead go to waste losing to Alejandro Hererra in five. Aaron Granberg lost a five game battle to Gil De Los Rios and Andy Hawthorne survived a scare from a great young player from Canada James Landeryou in five games. US team members Willie Tilton and Woody Clouse faced off with Clouse coming out on top in three. All the other seeds advance without much fanfare as Chris Crowther, Ben Croft, Mitch Williams and Josh Tucker all won the right to play on Friday.
Eddie Meredith and his lovely wife Mary have put together a stellar event and the Colorado Springs racquetball community will enjoy a great tournament this weekend.
The pro-am doubles was won by Jason Mannino and Ray Carnell defeating Jack Huczek and Gene Contreras. A great time was had by all especially when Kwi Spinks drew Rocky Carson as her partner. Kwi had the home town crowd rocking!!
Rocky by the way, just welcomed his new son into the world last weekend as his wife Jen gave birth to Christian Luke Carson last Friday. We wish all the best to the Carson family.
Mary Meredith and Diane Feldstein always smiling at the tournament desk.
Day Two- round of sixteen
There were a few great matches in the round of sixteen and one major upset. #9 Jason Thoerner won a long drawn out battle with #10 Chris Crowther in a 12-10 fifth game. #11 Josh Tucker used the altitude to light up his serves to take out his doubles partner #7 Shane Vanderson in three close games. Battle of the drives serves was won by #6 Cliff Swain as he defeated
#12 Mitch Williams in three games. #1 Jack Huczek would win a confrontational match over
#31 Woody Clouse. Both payers had some friendly words for each other in this match.
#13 Andy Hawthorne continues to show promise as he lost a tough four gamer to #5 Alvaro Beltran. #2 Kane Waselenchuk was not pushed by #36 Gil De Los Rios and #4 Rocky Carson easily took out #15 Alejandro Hererra. The upset was #17 Ben Croft winning a five gamer with #3 Jason Mannino. Ben hit some big shots and Jason was just not himself as Ben moves on to his first quarterfinals of his young career.
The quarters had some new match ups as Josh Tucker met Kane Waselenchuk in the first match of the evening. “Tuck” definitely was ready to play as he once again used the altitude to hit as one spectator described as “really fast serves”. Kane however is one of the best at returning serve in the game today. He was able to overcome Tucker’s big weapon and win the match 9,6,8 to advance to the semis. The second match of the day featured Jack Huczek and Jason Thoerner and it was all Huczek in this one as Thoerner struggled to find any rhythm. Jack would move on to the semi-finals 0,6,4. The third match of the evening would showcase the youngster Ben Croft appearing in his first quarter on the IRT, playing the legend Cliff Swain and Cliff wasted little time introducing Croft to the show. The nervousness showed and Cliff’s weapons were too much as he advances on the meet Waselenchuk in Saturday’s first semifinal 4,1,5 .The last match of the evening looked to be a barnburner but Alvaro Beltran would get the best of Rocky Carson in the one (2), 6,4,5 to move on to meet Huczek in the second semifinal on Saturday. Beltran’s backhand was superb as he returned Carson’s forehand overheads with some amazing splats. He also had his patented forehand wallpaper serve working t near perfection.
Semi-finals matches Saturday #2 Kane Waselenchuk vs. #6 Cliff Swain at 4pm mountain and #1 Jack Huczek vs. #5 Alvaro Beltran at 6pm Mountain Time.Day three – The semi finals
The first match on Saturday would pit #6 Cliff Swain and #2 Kane Waselenchuk. Kane took control of the match from the start playing very relaxed and in control. Cliff played tough but could not find the serve to get on any run. Kane would lead 9-5 in the third and Cliff’s serve all of a sudden caught fire. He would come back and even the match at 10-10. Kane however would find the way to win and take the match 7,7,11 to make his fourth final appearance of the season.
The second match had a bit more drama. Jack would control to first two games against Alvaro Beltran and was in control in the third when Beltran’s nose began bleeding. Alvaro took his full allotment of injury time of fifteen minutes. He came back down 4-6 and found something extra to win the game 11-6. In the next game it was very close at 9-8 Huczek serving Beltran disagreed with a call from referee Jason Thoerner who took control and gave out two techinicals to make the score 9-6 Huczek . Once again Beltran found a way to regroup and comeback from the deficit and win the fourth 11-9 to set the stage for game five. A real racquetball battle the fifth game would turn out to be as both player dove and returned serve at it’s highest level bringing the house down numerous times. Jack actually served at 8 seventeen times before scoring his ninth point. Jack would come out and hit two great down the lines from both sides to take the match and reach his fourth final of the season and meet his nemesis Waselenchuk in Sunday’s final 7,7, (6), (9), 9.
The Finals - KANE WASELENCHUK WINS THE LYNMAR CLASSIC (9),5,8,(3),6
Kane Waselenchuk would come into today’s match with intent on tightening the race for number one and Jack Huczek would come to stretch the lead out. Both player shad a lot at stake this weekend as they battle for the year-end number one ranking. Jack would come out strong in the first game and squeeze it out 11-9 to the surprise of the Waselenchuk camp. Kane would come back in the next two games and looked in control of the match but Huczek would answer everything Kane hit at him in the fourth to force a game five. Kane would jump out to and early lead only to have Jack fight back and even it up at 6-6. Kane would get the big serve going and a few unforced errors by Huczek in the end would allow Waselenchuk the opening he needed and he would go on to win the Lynmar Classic (9), 5,8, (3), 6. It would be Kane’s second win in a row and make the race for number one heat up.
Side notes:
Great job by Eddie Meredith on hosting his first full ranking event Eddie has run this event as a satellite in the years past and is a great asset to the sport of racquetball
Hats off to Mary Meredith and Diane Feldstein who held down the tournament all weekend and kept everything on time. Also thanks to Chuck Meredith for all the help behind the scenes.
It was great to see former top five IRT professional Gerry Price out at a stop playing again and hitting very well. A class act and a pleasure to have playing again. He will be at the Boston event as well.
The Lynmar Racquet and Health club is a great venue for a pro event. The fans are knowledgeable and embraced the IRT with open arms. The twin back wall courts with great seating create a great environment for the IRT.
Thank you to Ed Arias of ProRacquetball.net for filming the event and look for the new exciting pay per view site coming soon from Ed and the IRT.
Thank you to all the sponsors of the event and we look forward to coming back next season.