U.S. Closed Junior Squash Championships - 2016-Mar-11

The nation’s top junior players converge on Harvard University and MIT this weekend for the 2016 U.S. Junior Championships in Boston, Massachusetts.

Brookyn’s Douglas, who is the top-ranked U19 player in the country, is predicted to meet Boys’ U19 defending champion Sean Hughes in Sunday’s final. 2015 finalist Timmy Brownell enters the draw seeded fifth in his home town, with 2015 U17 champion Sam Scherl seeded fourth, and Spencer Lovejoy third. GU19 top seed Mariam Kamal (l) in the 2014 U.S. Junior Open. GU19 top seed Mariam Kamal (l) in the 2014 U.S. Junior Open. Kamal, who was born in the U.S., but recently returned stateside this season after living in Egypt, makes her tournament debut as the girls’ U19 title favorite. Kamal won two JCT’s in her first season on the U.S. Junior circuit. Thirteen-year-old Marina Stefanoni of Darien, Connecticut, is predicted to meet Kamal in the semifinals.

Two seed and 2015 U17 champion Casey Wong, or three seed Chloe Chemtob are predicted to face Kamal in the final. U.S. High School national team champion, Tyler Carney of Brunswick, is seeded first in the boys’ U17 draw. Massachusetts native Patrick McElroy opposes Carney in the draw as the two seed. Philadelphia’s Elisabeth Ross tops the girls’ U17 draw, and is seeded to meet Greenwich, Connecticut’s Emily Rose in the semifinals. The bottom half of the draw is seeded for an all-New York semifinal between Rego Park’s three seed Ona Prokes and Harrison’s two seed Emme Leonard. The boys’ U15 division is seeded for an all-New York final between Courtland Manor’s one seed Yassin Amir and Bronxville’s two seed Tyler Mackesy. The girls’ U15 division is also seeded for an all-New York final between Rye’s one seed Ashley Manning and New York City’s two seed Olivia Robinson. Berwyn, Pennsylvania’s Shaam Gambhir is the boys’ U13 top seed, and predicted to face Cincinnati’s two seed Rohan Iyer in the final. The girls’ U13 final is seeded to be a rematch of the 2015 GU11 final between U11 champion Molly Stoltz, the GU13 two seed, and U11 finalist Lucie Stefanoni, the GU13 top seed. The BU11 division is seeded for an all-Pennsylvania final between Villanova’s one seed Andrew Glaser and Wynnewood’s Ethan Benstock. California’s Madison Ho is the GU11 top seed, and predicted to meet Pennsylvania’s two seed Mary Kacergis in the final.