U19 Squash championships by Dave Griffiths The IOMSRA U19 Squash champs sponsored by Microgaming took place at the NSC on 13 March. Pick of the first round matches was Liam Quinn's seeding upset of Nathan Quilliam 15-13, 12-10. Quilliam had game points in both games but Quinn just wouldn't give in and seemed to be able to retrieve anything and eventually broke Quilliam’s resilience. There was also a great game between the oldest player in the Competition - Chris Cave - and the youngest, Patrick Fitzpatrick, who has another 5 years in this competition. Fitzpatrick took Cave by surprise with some very consistent play forcing Cave into errors before his natural age advantages of height, reach and strength saw him through the first game and to match point in the second. Fitzpatrick then staged a great recovery before Cave finally took the match 11-8, 12-10. Ben Atkinson played second seed Jason Crease and after a great start by Atkinson, Crease found his game to win 11-8, 11-6. In the next round Liam Quinn faced top seed, Thom Whiteway. Again Quinn’s tenacity stretched Whiteway in an entertaining game that Whiteway just won 11-8, 11-9. Chris Cave played Jason Crease and wasn't quite able to put on sufficient pressure to stop Crease dominating the match 11-6, 11-6. Meanwhile in the plate competition Patrick Fitzpatrick had 2 titanic struggles against Nathan Quilliam and Ben Atkinson where he was unlucky to lose both 2-1. Quilliam then took the plate by beating Atkinson 2-0. The play-off for 3rd and 4th between Chris Cave and Liam Quinn was a classic with Quinn maintaining his standard of play from previous rounds and Cave upping his game. Quinn took the first game 11-9 and then Cave reversed the score. In the final game Cave established an early lead and Quinn was never quite able to catch up despite some incredibly long rallies and won 11-7. Q: What's better than a classic? A: The U19 final between Thom Whiteway and Jason Crease. The first game started neck and neck to 4-4 until Crease pulled out an 8-4 and then 10-6 lead. Whiteway pegged it back to 10-10 but Crease was not to be denied and won it 12-10. Whiteway stormed back in the second and won it 11-5 to set up the decider. This was also neck and neck with some breathtaking squash. Then, with Crease 9-7 ahead, Whiteway reeled off 3 points in a row to get to match point. However Crease saved this and won the next 2 to win 12-10 and take the title. Crease’s tight widths and drops were probably the deciding factor in an enthralling match. The standard of Squash from all players was very high and, with only Cave being too old to compete next year, bodes well for the future. Ashley Sykes doubling as marker and Sponsor presented the prizes. IOMSRA is very grateful to Microgaming for their support. For more information and full match reports visit: www.iomsra.com. Ends