The 2nd Annual Arizona Masters Invitational, hosted at DC Ranch Village Health Club & Spa in Scottsdale from 1/9-11/26, was a huge success! We increased the field from 16 to 20 players in total: 3 from Mexico, 7 from Canada, 5 from Colorado/California/Oregon, and 5 locals. We added a Women’s division this year and had four women compete. Our top seed, Lauren Wagner out of Vancouver, is a two-time World Champion (‘18 & ‘24) and was the eventual winner of the Women’s division beating Kelsey Souchereau of Calgary 3-0 in the final. We had two Men’s divisions. The 5.0 Champion was Alejandro Hernandez from Mexico beating Steve Wren from Montreal. The Men’s 5.5 Champion was Heraclio “Lakko” Salaiz, who splits his time between in Phoenix/Mexico. Lakko’s opponent was David Ramsden-Wood from Denver. They played an epic match – tons of high-quality squash and a crazy finish with Lakko winning 11-9 in the 5th. This win allowed him to retain his Champion title from a year ago!
For detailed results of match play, click here to see the draw and scores on Club Locker.
Weather was perfect for the weekend. Some sun was enjoyed by the pool in addition to number of great squash matches! It’s going to be hard to top this event next year! Many thanks to competitor and tournament organizer Jay Anderson for bringing this event to life and to Brian Jack, a great player and major sponsor, who was Jay’s right-hand man in pulling everything together.
