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Southampton Youth Services’ third annual Sotheby’s Realty Hamptons Squash Junior Open drew young competitors from all over the northeast last weekend.
About 60 athletes played a total of 94 matches on the Elmaleh-Stanton Squash Center’s four singles courts at SYS on Saturday and Sunday. Winners emerged from behind the Plexiglass in six divisions, including boys and girls under 19 years old, under 15, boys under 13 and girls under 11.
Christopher Wilkenson, 16, of New York City and Southampton, beat Freddy Hernandez of the Bronx 3-1 in the boys under 19 championship. William Douglass of Brooklyn and East Hampton took third and Robert Zindman of Belle Mead, New Jersey, placed fourth.
Camille Lanier, 15, of Washington D.C. won the girls under 19 crown over Greenwich, Connecticut’s Claire Blumenthal in three straight games. Katherine Elliott-Moskwa of Princeton, New Jersey, placed third and Alisha Maity, a resident of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, placed fourth.
Bronx resident Andrew Caidenhead won among boys under 15 and Steve Cacouris of Alpine, New Jersey, placed second. Darius Cambell of Fordham Station and Felipe Pantle of the Bronx placed third and fourth,
Emily Jones, a resident of Rye who summers in Quogue, was the girls under 15 champ, while her sister Bella placed fourth. Caroline Monrad of Newton, Massachusetts, placed second and Lauren Johnston of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, placed third.
Stephen Monrad of Newton, Massachusetts, beat Southampton’s own Alex Partricolo for the boys under 13 championship and Cameron Munn of New York City and Southampton defeated Esmeralda Mejia of the Bronx in the girls under 11 finals.
“It’s a thrill to see these kids,” SYS board member Wally Glennon said on Sunday. Glennon conceived the squash program and saw it to fruition and he said it’s been a fun ride seeing it succeed over the last three years.
The tournament is U.S. Squash sanctioned and it attracts players from around the country, Glennon said, explaining that it is not an insignificant event. “A U.S. Squash sanctioned event is really a big deal,” he added, noting that the SYS event is a Gold tournament, which accepts the highest ranked players from across the country. “They played an enormous number of matches over the weekend,” Glennon said.
Lanier, the girls under 19 champ, said she faced some strong competitors at SYS. Now entering her sophomore year at the National Cathedral School, Lanier has been playing the sport for five years. Though she regularly competes and wins in local tournaments in Washington D.C., she considered winning the competition in Southampton a big victory.
The Hamptons open was her first tournament in the states this summer, but Lanier competed against a host of international players in the Dutch Junior Open earlier in the season.
Both she and Wilkenson, the boys under 19 winner, said they plan to play squash in college, but neither have given much thought to playing professionally.
“I love squash,” Wilkenson said, noting that no matter what the future holds, he’ll play for the rest of his life. He currently plays five or six days per week and has participated in tournaments around the country over the last seven years.
“I’ve been to Philly, Baltimore, I’ve even been to California,” Wilkenson said. He’s entering his junior year at the Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey, and it does not have a squash program.
The Southampton Recreation Center holds local squash tournaments every six weeks or so and it will be putting on some silver and bronze tournaments in the fall, according to Glennon. He is also preparing to launch an after school squash and academic enrichment program called “The Academy” in the fall if funding pans out.
According to its brochure, the Academy uses “the game of squash, mentoring and academic support to help students on the East End.” Its primary mission is to challenge local youth to recognize and fulfill their personal, athletic and academic potential by helping students believe in themselves, broaden their horizons and learn the value of good sportsmanship, among other things.
Glennon said the program is modeled after City Squash, which brought nine players to Southampton from the Bronx last weekend. He said the program has been a huge success there and the kids have become better players and more motivated and goal-oriented because of it.
“We’ve got most of the pieces of the puzzle in place,” he said, explaining that he hopes to raise more funds through some kind of event in the near future.
The program will run from 3:45 to 6 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays, and all participating students will attend the program on scholarship thanks to private donations. Interested parents can call SYS at (631) 287-1511 or visit www.sysinc.org for more information.
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