Dan Falloon
There’s a new standard for local squash players on the national level.
Angel McCormack bookended three wins at the Canadian Junior Squash Championships in Calgary last week with losses to Hannah Treleaven, including a tight 3-1 setback in the best-of-five girls’ under-13 consolation final.
All three set losses were by identical 11-9 tallies.
McCormack’s sixth-place finish is the highest-ever for a local junior player at the national tournament, eclipsing Anika Alexander’s win in the bronze flight final at the 2008 showdown in Victoria, B.C.
Her strong showing also should mean an improvement in the national rankings.
Up-to-date numbers were not available from Squash Canada, but McCormack estimated she was around 10th.
She also is ranked third in Ontario, although the two higher-seeded players finished above her in Calgary.
McCormack felt her strengths included hitting the ball to good length and placing it in different areas of the court.
She admitted she struggled with her serve on occasion, and opponents were able to take advantage.
McCormack also noted she learned not all opponents could be approached the same way.
“I learned that different people use different strategies,” she remarked.
After falling 11-6, 11-4, and 11-6 to Treleaven in her opening match, McCormack reeled off three-straight wins.
She swept Samantha Lawther (11-3, 11-6, and 18-16), Gillian Chick (11-1, 11-5, and 11-4), and Mackenzie Clapperton (11-9, 11-5, and 13-11) to earn a rematch with Treleaven in the consolation final.
Anniss Seid, the other local squasher competing in Calgary, posted a 1-2 record in the boys’ under-17 division.
Seid opened with a 3-2 loss to Victoria’s Chris Miles, but rebounded with a 3-0 sweep of Yellowknife’s Steven Nesbitt.
He then fell 3-2 to Farouk Sarmad to be eliminated from further contention.
“They just don’t make mistakes,” Seid remarked. “They know right where the other player is on the court.”
With local coaches Bob and Mary-Beth Tkachuk unable to make the trip to Calgary, McCormack and Seid received coaching from Trevor Borland of the Winnipeg Winter Club throughout the tournament.
However, Seid also mentioned he picked up some advice from a professional coach from Toronto.
“I changed my stroke a little to be more deceptive,” he noted.
