2000 HEAD/Penn USRA 27th
Junior Olympic Championships

Northwest Swim & Fitness
Minneapolis, Minnesota: June 24-28

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Top Junior Athletes to Converge on Minneapolis

The top junior athletes in the country will converge on Minneapolis for the Head 27th U.S. Junior Olympic Racquetball Championships presented by Penn Racquet Sports, June 24-28. The Northwest Athletic Club in Brooklyn Center will host more than 240 of the country's best junior athletes, ranging in age from four to 19 years old, many of which will be vying for a spot on the U.S. Junior National Team.

Athletes highlighting this year's competition include 17-year-old Jack Huczek (Rochester Hills, Mich.), who became the youngest man to ever qualify for the adult U.S. National Team last month at the U.S. National Singles Championships, where he won the men's Open bronze medal. Huczek, who was 16 at the beginning of the year, will be competing in both the boys' 16-and-under and 18-and-under singles divisions. Huczek has won a singles gold medal every year since he first began competing at the U.S. Junior Olympic Championships at age 7.

Huczek's toughest competitor looks to be Shane Vanderson (Dublin, Ohio), who took the silver medal last year in the 18-and-under singles division. Vanderson, 19, captured the silver medal at the World Intercollegiate Championships earlier this year as a freshman for Baldwin Wallace College. With 11 junior national and 13 world junior titles to his credit, Vanderson will be seeking to finish out his junior career on top at this year's championships.

Vanderson and Huczek will also face fierce competition from Mitch Williams (Washington, N.C.) in the 18-and-under division. Williams and Huczek faced off earlier this year in the finals of the U.S. National High School Championships, where Huczek got the better of his 18-year-old opponent.

The girls' 18-and-under singles division will be led by Kristen Walsh (Salt Lake City, Utah), who took the gold in the 16-and-under division last year. Walsh was a finalist at the U.S. National High School Championships, falling to freshman Adrienne Fisher (Dayton, Ohio), who will be competing in the 14-and-under singles and 16-and-under mixed doubles divisions. [See High School Story]

Thirty-one divisions will be contested at the championships, including singles, doubles and mixed doubles. They will be divided in the age categories beginning at six-and-under and increasing in increments of two years up to 18-and-under.

Eighteen slots on the U.S. Junior National Team will be filled at the championships, with the top-three finishers in the boys' and girls' 18-, 16- and 14-and-under singles divisions earning one-year appointments to the Team. The U.S. Junior Olympic Championships is the primary qualifier for the Team, however Huczek and Fisher earned appointments earlier this year by winning the U.S. National High School Championships.

The U.S. Junior National Team will compete at the World Junior Championships this December. Last year's Team won the overall, girls' and boys' team titles at the 1999 World Junior Championships.