Thursday, September 17, 2009

Some WPRO Info

The Lawler Sports Pro Am, the second event of the men's pro season - the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) - begins later today, so let's take a moment to mention some Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) happenings.

New Website

The WPRO has a newly designed website, which looks very good. Keely Franks is responsible for it, and she's also done a nice site for next week's Texas Open, the first event of the WPRO 2009-2010 season.

The site also features several great photos of WPRO players by Mike Boatman, the photographer of the IRT and US Open.

Included on the new WPRO site is a page with a brief history of the women's pro tour, including a link to the Wikipedia page on the WPRO. There you can see the top 10 players from every season back to 1980, which we're happy to tell you was put on Wikipedia by The Racquetball Blog staff.

Texas Open

The WPRO season kicks off next week with the Texas Open, and there is a great draw for it, as 34 players have entered, including the top 5 players, as well as two former #1 players Christie Van Hees, Jackie Paraiso and Kersten Hallander, who was ranked as high as #4 at one time. We've listed the players entered as of today below, although entries can still be made until late tomorrow (Friday September 18 at 10 PM central time).

If it stays like this, then it looks like current #1 Paola Longoria will potentially play Van Hees in the Round of 16 and another Paraiso will play Canadian champion Jennifer Saunders in the Round of 32.

2009 Texas Open
Seeding - WPRO Ranking - Player


1 1 Paola Longoria
2 2 Rhonda Rajsich
3 3 Cheryl Gudinas Holmes
4 4 Kristen Bellows
5 5 Kerri Wachtel
6 7 Adrienne Fisher
7 8 Angela Grisar
8 9 Jennifer Saunders
9 10 Jo Shattuck
10 11 Diane Moore
11 13 Samantha Salas
12 14 T.J. Baumbaugh
13 16 Keely Franks
14 17 Krystal Csuk
15 18 Vivian Gomez
16 19 Christie Van Hees
17 20 Brandi Jacobson Prentice
18 21 Susy Acosta
19 23 Aubrey O'Brien
20 24 Frederique T. Lambert
21 25 Cristina Amaya
22 26 Sofia Rascon
23 30 Laura Brandt
24 35 Danielle Emerson
25 38 Jackie Paraiso
26 42 Kelley Fields
27 52 Da'monique Davis
28 68 Sharon Jackson

29+ U Danielle Key
29+ U Nancy Enriquez
29+ U Kersten Hallander
29+ U Linda Scales
29+ U Liz Alvarado
29+ U Ashley Loyd

Note: "U" indicates WPRO ranking is unknown, as player isn't on most recent WPRO ranking list.

Follow the bouncing ball....

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