Results of a busy, busy weekend

A busy, busy racquetball weekend ended yesterday with five International Racquetball Tour (IRT) events and one Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) event concluding. Of the five IRT events, one was a Tier 3 and the others were Tier 4, while one of those events was also a WPRO satellite event. First the Tier 3 event.

33rd New Mexico Invitational

The Tier 3 event was the 33rd New Mexico Invitational Pro Am Racquetball Championships in Albuquerque. IRT #3, Alvaro Beltran defeated IRT #7 Mitch Williams in a four game final, 12-10, 1-11, 11-9, 11-7. In the semis, Beltran defeated fellow Mexican Polo Gutierrez, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6, while Williams beat Rafael Filippini, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9.

Here are the complete results from the men's pro division courtesy Tournament Director Gary Mazaroff:

Round of 32
Dave Solomon def Alvin Archuleta, 11-7, 11-5, 11-10
Jesse Harden def Dustin Webster, 11-8, 11-3, 9-11, 12-10
Chad Whitehead def Robert Lee, 11-9, 11-9, 11-7
Ken Cheshire def Andrew Clarke, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5

Round of 16
Alvaro Beltran def Dave Solomon, 11-3, 11-4, 11-8
Armando Landa def Eduardo Avila, 11-8, 11-6, 11-8
Alejandro Landa def Erick Sandoval, 11-7, 11-7, 12-14, 11-2
Polo Gutierrez def Jesse Harden, 11-3, 11-3, 11-1
Rafael Filippini def Chad Whitehead, 11-9, 6-11, 6-11, 11-1, 11-5
Ray Maestas def Felipe Camacho, 11-5, 5-11, 11-2, 11-5
Matt Melster def Jose Ramos, Win by default
Mitch Williams def Ken Cheshire, 11-1, 11-6, 11-4

Quarter Finals
Alvaro Beltran def Armando Landa, 11-6, 11-3, 11-7
Polo Gutierrez def Alejandro Landa, 11-1, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5
Rafael Filippini def Ray Maestas, Win by default
Mitch Williams def Matt Melster, 11-1, 11-0, 12-10

Semi Finals
Alvaro Beltran def Polo Gutierrez, 11-8, 11-8, 11-6
Mitch Williams def Rafael Filippini, 11-3, 11-9, 11-9

Final
Alvaro Beltran def Mitch Williams, 12-10, 1-11, 11-9, 11-7

Tier 4 Events

Jason Thoerner was in three finals at the Long Island Open, but he only won those in which he had help. That is, he won men's and mixed doubles, with Ruben Gonzalez (defeating Sanjay Laforest & Shane Wood in the final) and Aimee Ruiz (beating Andy Hawthorne & Rhonda Rajsich in that final), respectively, but lost the men's singles final to Andy Hawthorne, which was an upset as Hawthorne (IRT #11) was second seed and Thoerner (IRT #8) was first seed.

On the women's side of the Long Island Open, a similar thing happened, as WPRO #2 Cheryl Gudinas Holmes upset WPRO #1 Rhonda Rajsich in the final.

There were upsets in the semis and finals at the Sunset Turkey Shoot in Portland, Oregon. In the semis, third seed Charles Pratt defeated top seed Chadd Westwood and fourth seed Christopher Barton took out second seed Jimmy Lowe, 15-10, 15-10. Then in the final, Barton beat Pratt, 15-13, 10-15, 11-5.* Barton also won the doubles event with partner Nick Baida.

The Shawn Hyatt Excavating Shootout in Yakima, Washington went pretty much according to form, as Rocky Carson, IRT #1, defeated Ben Croft (IRT #6) in the final, 12-10, 12-10, 11-6. In the semis, Carson defeated fourth seeded Jason Samora, 11-8, 11-2, 11-1, and Croft took out third seed Jose Rojas, 11-6, 11-7, 11-4.

Finally, Chris Crowther, IRT #10 and top seed, defeated second seed Greg Solis in the final of the Pomona Valley Open in California.


* Note: only two or three scores are reported for the draw of the Sunset Turkey Shoot on the R2Sports site, so we're assuming the matches were 2 games to 15 and tiebreaker to 11 rather than the IRT match standard of best of five games each to 11.

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