El Halaby notches a four-peat

No longer does senior squash player Yasser El Halaby sit among exclusive company in the annals of collegiate squash. Rather, he sits alone at the top after becoming the only athlete ever to win the Men's Intercollegiate Potter Trophy — which is awarded to the individual national champion — in each of his four college seasons.

Before Sunday's win, El Halaby had been tied with five others who had won three collegiate titles. Only two of those three — Stephen Veshlage '61 from Princeton and Anil Nayar of Harvard — had won their titles in consecutive years. Those titles, however, came in a time before freshmen were allowed to compete for the individual championship.

Though this is not El Halaby's first important victory, he maintained that it was still special.

"It's always great to end your career on a winning note," El Halaby said. "It's my last event, and I wanted to finish strong."

El Halaby defeated Harvard rival Siddharth Suchde, 9-2, 9-0, 9-6, in only 39 minutes to wrap up his fourth title and third tournament victory in three years over Suchde. Suchde had been undefeated this season, including a dominating win over an injured El Halaby earlier this season, but came up short in the biggest match of the season.

El Halaby grabbed the first seven points of the match, and, leading 7-2 in the first game, reeled off 18 straight points to win the first two games and jump out 7-0 in the third. But Suchde did not give up, winning six more points before El Halaby finally finished off the junior.

El Halaby only dropped one game in five matches throughout the entire tournament, to Trinity's Gustav Detter, who had defeated El Halaby earlier this season. Over the last four national tournaments, El Halaby has only dropped four games and none in final matches.

For El Halaby, who has struggled with injuries throughout the season, this match was not about exacting revenge on Suchde for their match earlier this season.

"It wasn't about avenging my losses," he said. "It was more like performing the way that I should have. I struggled through a foot injury earlier this year, and I just made sure that I had recovered."

But even the four-time victor was gracious while celebrating his win, giving credit to his opponent.

"[Suchde is] a very good squash player," El Halaby said. "He's also a great guy to play with and an excellent sportsman. He's a nice guy, and he makes it fun to play against him. I respect him a lot."

Looking back, all, except for his opponents, are certainly glad El Halaby had the chance to make the mark on Tiger athletics he has over the past four years.

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El Halaby was not the only Princeton squash player in action this weekend. In total, seven Tigers participated, including freshman Mauricio Sanchez, who reached the semifinals of the main bracket before falling to Suchde. Freshmen Hesham El Halaby and Kimlee Wong each recorded victories before falling in the round of 16.

In the consolation bracket, junior Dent Williams defeated junior teammate Vincent Yu 9-3, 4-9, 9-6, 9-1 in the finals.

"No one on the team underperformed," Yasser El Halaby said.