Men’s Squash settles for third-place national finish

JUSTIN FORTIER ’18
SPORTS EDITOR
It was a familiar battle as the Trinity men’s squash team took down St. Lawrence 5-4 in the Potter Cup this past weekend at Yale University. However, unlike last year, this match was not for the 1st place trophy as it was last year, instead it was the bronze medal match. Each individual match in the consolation final was hotly contested; there was not a single match in the top nine that lasted only three sets. Trinity won the core of its matches in the upper seeds, taking the fifth through eighth slots thanks to James Evans ’18, Affeeq Ismail ’17, Omar Allaudin ’18, and Nku Patrick ’19. In the third slot Juan Vargas ’16 beat out St. Lawrence’s Ahmed Bayoumy.
The day before was filled with heartbreak as the Bantam’s fell to the University of Rochester Yellowjackets in a crushing 5-4 loss.
Unlike this year’s earlier matchup between the colleges, Rick Penders ’18 fell to Mario Yanez at the number one slot. With such a close finish in the last three of their matchups, there is a new rivalry forming in college squash. Although Yale went on to beat Rochester in the finals, the Ivy Leagues had not posed a real threat to Trinity this year.
As the men look forward to next year, there is certainly an expanded field of college squash competition, as other schools have begun to recruit heavily internationally in order to compete. The Ivy league schools have dropped their academic requirements for squash athletes significantly to bolster their rosters, however, Trinity players are excited for next year. “Our recruiting pipeline is sick, we grabbed a few awesome kids from the world pro-tour in the top 200, “ Hollis McLaughlin ’18, said in regards to the season to come.
The whole team has embraced this positive outlook, while heading home without a championship ring truly hurts, the graduating seniors still leave with two in their possession, an accomplishment that would seem unbelievable for any other team in the country.