Racketmen Shoot for National Titles

Harvard's squash team breaks out of college circles this weekend to compete in the U.S. Squash Racquets Association Championships at Hartford.

Pitted against the continent's top amateurs, the undefeated Crimson varsity will face a different calibre of opposition than it has seen so far this year. Harvard especially handicapped by a requirement that college teams must enter one player in the individual competition, while the non-collegiate squads are held to no such rule. Players entered in the individual tourney are ineligible for the team division.

Crimson number one player Romer Holleran must fight an uphill battle in the individual tournament. If he defeats Craig fanning of New York in the first round; he will meet former national junior champ Ralph West or powerful Smith Chapman. Chapman, Canada's best player, defeated Holleran in a Harvard-McGill match last December, 15-13, 15-13, 15-13.

Harvard's Al Terrell, Terry Robinson, Dinny Adams, Bill Morris, and Todd Wilkinson will be competing for the national team title. Morris and Robinson were on the five-man team that won the championship two years ago; Terrell turned in two victories in last year's tourney. Adams and Wilkinson, consistent winners in intercollegiate play this year, are USSRA newcomers.

The opposition facing Harvard's team is as strong as that facing Holleran. If he Crimson manages to defeat the winner of the Connecticut-Ontario match, it must meet either Navy or New York's second squad. The Ontario and New York squads are the most likely to give Harvard trouble, but in this tournament any team could win.

Waiting for Harvard in the semi-finals will be the defending champions from Washington, D.C., who edged Harvard last year, 3-2. Washington, however, will be missing the services of former Crimson captain Gerry Emmett '60, who is going after the individual title this time.