Racquetmen Prepare to Squash Princeton

The Harvard men's squash team has won the national collegiate title the past three years.

And a defeat of traditional powerhouse and rival Princeton has been a key in each of those championship seasons.

Last year, Harvard defended its national title at Princeton, overcoming a large, vocal, and bullhorn-equipped Princeton crowd in the process.

It's that time of year again.

Because tomorrow afternoon, the racquetmen will try to take a huge step towards their fourth consecutive top national ranking with yet another victory over the Tigers--this time at friendly Hemenway Gym.

But the national title isn't the only reason tomorrow's match is special: the Crimson-Tiger showdown also marks the second-to-last home match for Harvard's number one player, Kenton Jernigan.

Jernigan, the top-ranked amateur in the country and a major reason the Harvard men's squash team is undefeated in the past three years, is turning pro next month.

Freshman year, Jernigan played in the number-two slot behind David Boyum '85 (presently the 14th ranked professional in the world) and sometimes in the third position, after Brad Desaulnier '85, who is also now a pro. The Newport, R.I., native beat both of them, though, the same year to capture the national individual title.

Freshman year.

Since Jernigan entered Harvard in 1982, he has never lost a match for the Crimson (while winning approximately 35). In turn, Harvard has been the perennial national champion.

In a sport whose participants are usually prep schoolers who grow up to play the sport as yuppies in their exclusive clubs, Jernigan is an anomaly. The Dunster House resident attended a local public school where squash wasn't even offered. Instead, Jernigan participated in track and soccer.

Jernigan's innate athletic talent made him a prodigy. Only four months after learning the game--completely on his own--Jernigan reached the semifinals at the Junior Nationals at Princeton and the Canadian Nationals.

Jernigan is "clearly a level above everyone else" and can't be "pushed by his teammates," says Coach Dave Fish. The most difficult part of his college career has been avoiding "playing down" to other players while trying to maintain his own level of play, Jernigan says.

Teammate Joe Dowling describes Jernigan as an "athlete who has found his sport." Dowling compares Jernigan to a "ball machine on super-fast."

Russ Ball, Harvard's number two and the fifth-ranked amateur nationally, admits that playing Jernigan isn't much of a match. "He's fun to watch in matches," Ball says, "he's reason we stay an extra week at Nationals."

As early as last year, Jernigan considered giving up his amateur status to pursue the "fun and money" of the professional circuit. Fortunately for Harvard, Fish convinced Jernigan that he could benefit from another year as an amateur.

The two-year captain said that Princeton will present Harvard with its toughest challenge in four years. The Crimson's trouble may come in the middle of the ladder--at four and five--and with the lower seeded matches.

The top five players for Princeton include Jeff Stanley, Kean Butcher, Fazal Shiek, Tom Shepard and Christian Griffin. Jernigan should have little difficulty dispensing with top-ranked freshman Stanley, the junior national champion.

"We haven't lost for four years, and this will probably be our last chance to lose this year," says Jernigan. He adds that he is "psyched to play" in the one of his last matches as an amateur.

The rest will, as usual, be up to the other members of the nine-man team.