By Scott Leighton
The US Men and Women’s Squash teams had an historic tournament at the 2008 Pan-American Squash Championships in Cuenca, Ecuador. The US secured three gold medals overall by winning the Men’s and Women’s team championships and the Men’s singles event. The team also won silver medals in the Men’s and Women’s singles and a bronze in the Men’s singles—the best results by the US team since first playing in the Pan-American Games in 1995.
The US Men’s team was led by Julian Illingworth, the top American on the PSA tour with a ranking of No. 37, in the team and the individual events. In last year’s individual event at the Pan-American Games, Illingworth was a surprise silver medalist after defeating top-seeded Shahier Razik in the quarterfinals before eventually succumbing to Mexico’s Eric Galvez in the finals. This year, with the absence of many top North American touring players, Illingworth was seeded to win the event and did so convincingly, beating compatriot Chris Gordon in a three-game final. While Illingworth stormed through the singles draw without losing a game, Gordon had a tougher road, including a five-game victory over the third seed, American Ryan Donegan. Donegan ended up taking the bronze medal to complete a podium sweep for the Americans.
In the women’s individual event, Kristen Lange held the torch for the American team. With Natalie Grainger, the top ranked American and World No. 4 not playing in the individual event, Lange played inspired squash to reach the finals before losing to Colombia’s Silvia Angulo. Along the way, Lange defeated Mexico’s Nayelli Hernandez in the quarterfinals and Brazil’s Thaisa Serafini in the semifinals.
Grainger provided the US Women’s team with a shot of veteran leadership at the No. 1 position in the team event and led the US to a gold medal. With Lange and Amanda Siebert playing in the No. 2 and 3 positions respectively, the Women’s team convincingly defeated Guatemala and Colombia in pool play, and Brazil in the semifinals, before defeating Mexico in a close final. Siebert secured a clutch five-game victory over Mexico’s No. 3, Karina Herrera, and Grainger defeated WISPA veteran Samantha Teran in the headlining match to win the gold medal for the Americans.
Like the women’s team, the men’s team also played tenacious squash during its gold medal run in Ecuador. With a team consisting of Illingworth, Gordon, Donegan, and Gilly Lane, the US defeated Peru and Canada in pool play and advanced to the semifinals, where they handily defeated Colombia. In the finals, Donegan overwhelmed Mexico’s Alejandro Hernandez and Illingworth completed his undefeated tournament to clinch the gold for the team by steamrolling Marco Toriz. “We are excited that the Men’s team was able to win its first ever gold in a Pan-American event,” said Illingworth. “This is the strongest team we have ever sent. With the depth of these four players we can easily mix and match, and we are looking forward to competing for gold at the next Pan-American Games in 2011.”
