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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Seven Squashers To Compete For CSA National Title This Weekend
March 05, 2010 | Men's Squash, Women's Squash
Four men's players and three women's players, including second-ranked freshman Todd Harrity, have made their way to Trinity College this weekend to compete for the 2010 CSA individual championships.
When the tournament draws are published online, they will be updated throughout the weekend here.
Competing this weekend for the Princeton men will be Harrity, Dave Letourneau, Chris Callis and Kelly Shannon. On the women's side, freshman Julie Cerullo will be Princeton's highest-seeded player, while Jackie Moss and Neha Kumar will compete for the title.
The men's field is arguably the most open its been since 2001, when David Yik '03 made a stunning run to the title. There are two reasons why the men's field is so open. The first is the overall depth of the sport, which now features strong programs at the likes of Rochester and Cornell, as well as talented players at smaller programs, like Navy and Franklin & Marshall.
The other reason is the lack of a defending champion. The well-publicized altercation at the end of the CSA national team final between Trinity's two-time reigning individual champion Baset Chaudhry and Yale freshman Kenneth Chan has led to both players pulling themselves out of the tournament. Chaudhry, who was undefeated this season, would have been the top seed and an overwhelming favorite to win his third title in four years.
Instead, he will watch from the sidelines. For Harrity, that moves him to the second seed behind Harvard's Colin West, the only player to defeat Harrity this season and the likely Ivy League Player of the Year. Both players will be on opposite sides of the draw and could be heading to a third match this season, although neither has a particularly easy draw.
Letourneau will be the fourth seed on the men's side, while both Callis and Shannon will be dangerous unseeded players who will look to survive the first two matches on Friday and reach a Saturday quarterfinal.
On the women's side, Cerullo enters the weekend brimming with confidence. Not only did she complete a perfect 3-0 weekend at the CSA Howe Cup championships, but her regular season victory over 2009 individual champion Nour Baghat was the first collegiate loss of Baghat's career. Cerullo is peaking at the right time and could make a run deep into the tournament.
Moss played well through much of the season and has the talent to win multiple matches, while Kumar might be the scariest unseeded player in the women's field. A former national semifinalist, Kumar dealt with injuries much of the last two seasons and never made her way back to the top of the lineup. With one weekend left in her career, she could manage one more deep run through the draw.
Both the men and the women will have a pair of players in their respective B draws. The men will send David Pena and Peter Sopher, while the women will send Nikki Sequeira and Katie Giovinazzo.