Rapid Reactions: Former players, fans react to squash title

Mauricio Sanchez ’09:

To be honest, I was close to crying. It was that exciting. Especially for Kimlee Wong ’09, Hesham El Halaby ’09 and me, because we had lost to Trinity in the final of nationals all of our four years while in college.

It still hurt remembering my match in the 2009 final, when I was up 5-0 in the fifth game, and we were 4-4 overall, and I lost it. But today, for the first time since that day, I felt fine remembering it. I felt relieved. I told members of the Class of 2012 that now I’m going to be able to sleep at night.

I’m just really proud of being part of the Princeton squash tradition. I felt especially connected to this team because I remember hitting at the courts with all the current seniors when they were freshmen. They are really great guys. They deserve it.

I’m also really happy for Coach [Bob] Callahan ’77 and [assistant coach] Neil Pomphrey. They had done everything right to win the championship several times already, but luck just hadn’t been on our side. I’m glad that changed yesterday. They are all great champions!

Peter Sopher ’11:

I was at the match yesterday, and so many mixed emotions were jumbled in my head that a couple hours after the match, I virtually shut down.

The first feeling was utter elation for Coach Callahan. He has experienced so many heartbreaking defeats at the hands of Trinity. He deserves a year in which Princeton squash rules the college squash world, and this year they certainly did. They won the Team Sportsmanship Award, the Ivy League Championship and the National Championship, and there is a good chance [junior] Todd Harrity will win the individual national title. After Kelly won his match, Coach came on the court with teary red eyes and started hugging anyone he could find who was associated with Princeton squash. When it was my turn to hug Coach, I finally lost the fight against my own tears. For context on the alumni goodwill toward Coach Callahan, by noon today, Coach had received over 300 congratulatory emails.

During and after the match yesterday, I couldn’t stop thinking about the 2009 final because there were so many similarities: the two teams, the venue and how close the match ended up. I devoted my life to squash that year. I set up my class schedule so that I could go to Jadwin and practice at 9 a.m. Monday through Friday, I barely partied and I played through illnesses and injuries. Most of my teammates from that year exhibited a similar level of commitment.

After this year’s match ended, David Canner and Kimlee Wong — two other alumni from the 2009 team — and I played squash together. Midway through, we dropped our rackets and began reminiscing about how close we had been. I like to think that prior teams helped build this year’s team culture, which was one variable that allowed them to prevail. In addition, I felt nothing but happiness for this year’s team. At the same time, setting foot in a venue so similar to the one from three years ago opened some wounds that will likely never heal.

Philip Sopher ’11:

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Nikhil Seth [’11] and I were watching the live stream of the match together on Skype. I’m in France right now, and he’s in India, and we were really excited and wished we could’ve been there to see it live. After the first shift, we were pumped up. After the second shift, we were a bit worried, but we knew that the third shift would be strong. Nobody was worried about Todd’s match. Todd is a cold, calculated murderer in these situations. We knew that if Kelly played well, he would win too, and we believed that Dylan was better than Trinity’s No. 7. There was never a point while I was watching where I didn’t think we would win it.

After the match, all of the Princeton squash alumni went crazy ... We all just wanted to talk to somebody who would understand how proud we felt to be part of Princeton squash.

It still hasn’t totally sunk in — all day, I’ve been walking around thinking about the match. I’ve gotten in touch with a few of the guys who are currently on the team. It’s exciting to see how excited they are. It also makes me think back to my sophomore year, 2009, and wish we had managed to pull it out. It’s amazing to win a championship as a Princeton alumnus, but it would’ve been even better to do it as a student.

Dave Letourneau ’11:

I was glued to my computer all day watching the action and simultaneously Skyping with alumni from Mexico, Egypt, France, India and all over the United States. The fact that we all were up watching just goes to show how important this match was to the Princeton squash program. Watching online brought back a flood of memories for those of us who competed against Trinity over the years. For a brief moment, we were all transported back onto those stifling courts, playing the biggest match of our lives for our best friends and teammates.

I almost expected that the guys would come back from 4-2 down to win the title. This senior class was a part of an epic match in 2009, and, by winning the championship this year, their journey has come full circle. We speculated that Kelly Shannon’s match would be the decider, and I had no doubt that he would come through under pressure (I’ve known Kelly my entire life growing up in Calgary together).It is hard to describe how heartbreaking it was to lose to Trinity on so many occasions. No matter how hard we tried, the matches seemed to come down to a few decisive points that never seemed to go our way.

When the final point was won, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of our (alumni’s) shoulders. Very proud to be a Princeton Tiger.

Hesham El Halaby ’09:

I was following the match from Cairo with my brother and former Princeton squash player Yasser El Halaby ’06. We received frequent updates throughout from former teammates Tom McKay ’08 and Kimlee Wong ’09, who were lucky enough to be there. While it was intense waiting for the updates, I felt confident we would win after Dylan made it 3-4. It was incredible to see the huge comeback.

I don’t think I could have been any more excited after seeing the team finally accomplish the goal set by so many Princeton squash teams that came before. I am extremely proud of the team, Coach and Neil for what they accomplished; they weren’t even one of the top two favorites and emerged as champions.

Yasser El Halaby ’06:

When I got home from work, the match had started a few hours ago, and my brother, Hesham, didn’t mention the score, so I knew that it wasn’t in Princeton’s favor. He then informed me that we were down 4-2 but were tied or led in the remaining three matches. For some reason, I felt like the Princeton team was going to pull it off. I couldn’t bear following point by point, but I had The Daily Princetonian’s blog on and periodically checked, checking less often as we came close to victory, as I started to get nervous.

I was completely ecstatic when I saw the final result. My brother and I both wished we could have witnessed the match in person and helped the team and the coaches celebrate. Congrats to an amazing team and an amazing program led by Coach Callahan and Neil Pomphrey. I am so proud of them.

Former sports editor Zach Kwartler ’11, who covered the 2009 final for the ‘Prince’:

Peter Sopher texted me when the team won the match. I was watching a [Mardi Gras] parade on St. Charles Street, but when I got the news, I immediately pumped my fist in the air and shouted “Princeton squash just won the national championship.” My friends, not from Princeton, gave me an “are you kidding me” stare, and one remarked that it was the most elitist comment he’d heard all weekend. Needless to say, I was really excited.

This is an awesome accomplishment for the Princeton squash team. Having lived with squash players for most of my time at Princeton, there always seemed to be “years” when we had an actual shot of beating Trinity (2009) and years where we tried to put up a good fight but didn’t really have the talent to win (2008, 2010, 2011). Point being, the chance to beat a team like Trinity only comes around every so often, and it’s great that this year’s team finally pulled it off. I know that every Princeton squash player — male or female — is absolutely ecstatic about this win.

Also, the seniors on this year’s team came in to Princeton with a lot of hype — Kelly was supposed to be better than Dave Letourneau — but suffered through injury after injury. For Kelly to win the final match of the national championship is a great testament to his perseverance. Judging by the results from other matches, [Chris] Callis and Clay [Blackiston] both really stepped up this year and pulled off some big wins playing at the highest positions of their careers. I guess that’s a cliche reaffirmation of the importance of “senior leadership,” but it does seem accurate in this case.