Squash: Squads set goals high: title or bust

The pictures are an odd assortment of the past: Color to black-and-white, ranging from the perfectly symmetrical legs crossed, rackets crossed, all black uniforms to gentlemen in blazers and ties lounging around the massive Tiger that guards the southeast entrance to Chancellor Green. The pictures seem to betray no rhyme or reason, except their uniqueness and Callahan’s mustache.

“I grew it 34 years ago when I was a sophomore here at Princeton and only shaved it once since then — 30 years ago for one year,” Callahan said. “I think all good things have to come to an end. It probably looked good in the ’70s, maybe the 80s, but certainly not in the ’90s or the ’00s!”

One must wonder what that shave portends for the 2008-09 season. Greatness, Catastrophe, Neither? The history of Princeton men’s squash indicates the first. Last year, though Trinity continued its reign atop the men’s collegiate squash world by beating the Tigers, Princeton did not drop a single individual match, no less a team match, to an Ivy League opponent.

This year the team looks primed to take its fourth straight Ivy League title, a feat unmatched by any other Ivy, though the soft-spoken Callahan would never be so bold to expect that. Instead, the focus is on practice.

“We have a two-hour practice, six days per week, six months per year. And the key is intensity. Among the best players, efficiently minimizing the time on court is essential, hoping to reduce the pounding and the injuries,” Callahan said. “The next challenge is to compartmentalize: The intensity must be continuous but concentrated. Play for 10 to 20 seconds and then take a few seconds of rest. Among vociferous crowds against a tough opponent, you must be able to block that out to play at the high end of your ability range.”

With 23 members on the men’s side, Callahan has quite a cohort to manage. On paper, the Tigers’ depth is extraordinary. Princeton will build on the experience of senior tri-captains Mauricio Sanchez, Kimlee Wong and Hesham El Halaby and lost only the clutch co-captain Tom McKay ’08 to graduation.

The Tigers have reloaded with four freshmen: Chris Callis, Kelly Shannon, Jesus Pena and Clay Blackiston. All were top-ranked junior players. In short, Callis was the top-ranked U.S. recruit, and Shannon, a Canadian, was the top North American recruit.

Jadwin Gym hosts the 2009 men’s Collegiate Squash Association Team Championships in February. Unlike other Princeton sports venues, such as Baker Rink, where the main scoreboard only demarcates between “Home” and “Away,” the Jadwin scoreboards keep score for “Princeton” or “Visitor.” Along with the pennants that enumerate every championship team, this subtle reminder above the players’ heads acknowledges the Tigers’ home-court advantage, implying that no other team could be at “home” in Jadwin.

Women look to defend Howe Cup

Moving to the women’s photos that occupy a no less distinguished position, the photo that stands out is the year before head coach Gail Ramsay arrived. The year is 1993-94, and it is a classic. Travel bags are strewn about, leaves sit between the players on the still green grass, the sky is overcast, and the women look exhausted. But they are smiling. Since Ramsay’s arrival, the Tigers have won four nations championships, and the smiling has not stopped.

Having returned from a Fall Break training trip to Egypt that was full of sightseeing and squash, the women are already rounding into midseason form and have felt this satisfied exhaustion.

“It was so amazing to see such a different place and to be immersed in a very different culture,” senior tri-captain Maggie O’Toole said. “The traffic was insane! We learned so much from our fabulous coaches there, Ashraf, Haitham and Omar. Egypt has had something like 100 world champions coached in the place that we had trained! We had a very busy nine days there. We played a lot of squash and saw the most amazing sites like the Karnak and Luxor Temples, Tombs of the Pharaohs, the Sphinx and the Pyramids. We were very tired from great squash training but really enjoyed being in front of works of art that were from 5000 B.C.”

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This was the second trip to squash-happy Egypt for junior Amanda Siebert in the last six months. Siebert played the Would University Squash Championship over the summer, sharpening her skills for a potential individual title. Siebert won the Constable Cup last year, named for longtime Princeton head coach Betty Constable, who passed away this summer.

More importantly, the Tigers are poised to defend their back-to-back Howe Cup victories. With the departure of senior tri-captains Casey Riley ’08, Carly Grawbowski ’08 and Margaret Kent ’08, new tri-captains Joanna Scoon, Aly Brady and O’Toole lead a team with arguably as much depth as the men’s side. If junior Neha Kumar remains healthy this season, she could push Siebert for the number-one position, and if sophomore Jackie Moss recovers from her injuries, she will add more firepower to the top of the Princeton ladder, not to mention new freshmen Daphne Rein-Weston, Katie Giovinazzo and Clare Kuensell. But even more important will be the new pictures added to the wall at Jadwin.