Squash Teams Each Place Two on All-Ivy

The No. 2 Harvard women’s squash team and the No. 3 Crimson men each had two players named to the All-Ivy team yesterday.

Junior co-captain Louisa Hall and sophomore Lindsey Wilkins represented the women, while freshman Will Broadbent and junior James Bullock were honored for the men. It was Hall’s third straight All-Ivy selection.

“Every year, the Ivy League is getting much, much stronger,” Hall said. “So it’s nice to know that I’m keeping up.”

But, despite finishing the season as the intercollegiate No. 4, Hall suffered through a frustrating, up-and-down year. She won the Harvard Club of New York Invitational in January, defeating sisters Latasha and Shabana Khan, the top two players in the country, in the process. Hall also placed third at this weekend’s U.S. Nationals.

But the 2001-02 Ivy Player of the Year was also hampered by illness, battling the flu for three days before her matchup with eventual intercollegiate champion Amina Helal of Trinity Feb. 1 and missing the College Squash Association (CSA) Individual Championships entirely.

Wilkins, the intercollegiate No. 7, was named a First-Team All-American for the second consecutive year in addition to being named All-Ivy.

Since the CSA Individuals figure prominently in the selection of All-Americans, Hall is currently listed as an Honorable Mention All-American. However, only the processing of her illness exemption is keeping her from joining Wilkins. It will be Hall’s third selection to the first team in three years.

For the first time since the 1999-2000 season, a Harvard freshman did not earn Ivy Rookie of the Year honors. Wilkins won last year, and Hall the year before. This year, Yale’s Michelle Quibell took home the award.

For the men, Broadbent capped a stellar rookie campaign by finishing the season as the intercollegiate No. 9, earning him First-Team All-American honors in addition to his All-Ivy selection.

“We’re mostly concerned with the team stuff,” Broadbent said. “But it’s also nice to be individually recognized.”

Bullock, the intercollegiate No. 11, was joined as a Second-Team All-American by sophomore No. 13 Michael Blumberg and co-captain No. 22 Dylan Patterson. It was Patterson’s third consecutive Second-Team selection after being named an Honorable Mention All-American as a freshman.

Both Bullock and Blumberg were First-Team All-Americans last season, but their apparent demotion reflects more on the current state of college squash than on their play. Only one 2001-02 First-Team All-American—Trinity’s Rohan Bhappu—graduated, while three freshmen, including Broadbent and intercollegiate champion Yasser El-Halaby of Princeton, were named to this year’s team.

—Staff writer Alan G. Ginsberg can be reached at aginsber@fas.harvard.edu.