The International Racquetball Tour (IRT) has updated its rankings, although there are no changes in the top three. Kane Waselenchuk is the #1 IRT player, followed by Rocky Carson in #2 and Ben Croft in #3.
But Chris Crowther and Jose Rojas are both on career highs, as Crowther is up to #4, and Rojas is #5. Crowther's made one final and a semi this season, while Rojas has made the semis in 3 of the 4 Tier 1 or Grand Slam IRT events of the season.
Jack Huczek, who retired in May, is still #6, which is a testament to how far ahead he was of the rest of the field that only a few players have moved past him.
Andy Hawthorne #7, Shane Vanderson #8, Charlie Pratt #9, and Tony Carson #10, round out the top 10.
Nine of the top ten players are American, but seven of the next ten are not. Four Mexicans - Javier Moreno, Alvaro Beltran, Daniel De La Rosa, and Alejandro Landa - two Colombians - Juan Herrera and Alejandro Herrera, and a Canadian - James Slamko - join the three Americans - Anthony Herrera, Taylor Knoth and Arthur Schmeiser - to make up the 11-20 IRT ranks.
Ruben Watch
Also of note, Ruben Gonzalez is #31 overall and #24 for this season, so he's got a ways to go to get to his goal of being in the top 10 at the end of the season, when he'll be 60. The Racquetball Blog has three words for Mr. Gonzalez: Work. To. Do.
Gonzalez was to his next chance to climb closer to his goal this month with the Corona Open in Chihuahua, Mexico, December 15-18, but that's been taken off the schedule. Thus, the IRT's next Tier 1 event will be in the new year with the Coast to Coast California Open in Canoga Park.
That will start a heavy tournament schedule for the second half of the season, as there will be 13 tournaments in 21 weeks; they'll be playing roughly two of every three weeks. Not a schedule for old men.
We suggest Gonzalez put in some good training this month and go easy on the egg nog and holiday meals. He's got a lot of work ahead of him.
IRT Rankings 2010-11 Season - December 1, 2011
Rank - Player - Points
1 Kane WASELENCHUK, 4974
2 Rocky CARSON, 3894
3 Ben CROFT, 2877
4 Chris CROWTHER, 2414
5 Jose ROJAS, 2372
6 Jack HUCZEK, 2340
7 Andy HAWTHORNE, 2213
8 Shane VANDERSON, 2131
9 Charlie PRATT, 1868
10 Tony CARSON, 1508
11 Anthony HERRERA, 1394
12 Javier MORENO, 1026
13 Juan HERRERA, 876
14 Alvaro BELTRAN, 631
15 Daniel DE LA ROSA, 611
16 Alejandro HERRERA, 575
17 Taylor KNOTH, 554
18 Alejandro LANDA, 484
19 Arthur SCHMEISER, 475
20 Jamie SLAMKO, 465
Follow the bouncing ball....
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3 comments:
I wonder what the going opinion is on whether or not Ruben can accomplish a #10 ranking.
Just by attending and playing in every event he almost certainly guarantees himself a spot somewhere in the 12-15 range. But he has to get some round of 32 wins over the rest of the guys on this list in the 11-16 range.
Unfortunately he's already had a few "bad" losses. You can't lose to Cramer (Seattle) and Franco (Kansas City) and expect to make the top 10. Those were matches he really should have won.
I wish nothing but the best for a gentlemen and great ambassador for our game. But, lets say what this is: a very nice marketing campaign for Ektelon. Ruben is a realist and fully understands there is no way he can crack the top 10. In fact, I'll go on to say if he *did* crack the top 10 it would be detrimental to the overall IRT brand. Comments?
I met ruben in arlington texas recently for the national masters doubles tournament.I got his autograph,he signed a ball and a photo for me,plus i got my picture with him and it was posted on the usar site for a day or so.I watched him play doubles.While you cant shoot away in doubles i can say he still hits the ball at a high rate of speed and moves great on the court.I also saw tony carson play once and he would probably beat ruben 11-4.Tony is number 10,so ruben would have to be able to beat him.I am 62,i can only dream of playing like ruben.
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