Cece Hampton ’24

Sports Editor

Over Trinity Days, the George A. Kellner Squash Center buzzed with excitement and activity as Trinity and Wesleyan University co-hosted the 2023 College Squash Association (CSA) National Collegiate Men’s Team Championships. The Trinity men’s team entered the competition with a record of 15-4, seeded at No. 6 out of eight teams. At the beginning of the weekend in the quarterfinals, Trinity beat Princeton 5-3, advancing to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, the Bantams took a 5-4 upset win against the No. 2 seed University of Pennsylvania, with first-year Joachim Chuah Han Wen (Shah Alam, Malaysia) clinching the game with his winning match. In the final round, Trinity took on top seed Harvard, leading in the first four matches with a score of 3-1. Ultimately, Harvard won, beating the Bantams by one point to report a final score of 5-4. This is Harvard’s fourth consecutive season placing first in the competition, and they remain undefeated with a final record of 17-0. The Bantams finished the season with a final record of 17-5, led by Head Coach Paul Assaiante, returning for his 29th season. They won their 15th Nescac Championship in a row, and finished the CSA National Team Championship (Potter Trophy) in second place. Additionally, junior Mohamed Sharaf (Shiekh Zayed City, Egypt) was named NESCAC Men’s Squash Player of the Year for the second year in a row, and first-year Bendek Takacs (Szatymaz, Hungary) was nominated as the 2023 NESCAC Rookie of the Year. 

The week before, the Trinity women’s squash team competed in the 2023 Csa National Collegiate Women’s Team Championships hosted at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. The Bantams were seeded at number one going into the competition, finishing their 2022-2023 season with a final record of 18-1. In the semi-finals, they defeated Yale 9-0 and the University of Virginia 6-3, but ultimately lost to No. 2 seed Harvard in the final match, with a score of 5-4. Additionally, the Bantams have recently earned a handful of other awards, including their 16th NESCAC Championship title in a row. Among others, sophomore Jana Safy (Cairo, Egypt) was named the NESCAC 2023 Women’s Squash Player of the Year, first-year Hannah Chukwu (Tatabanya, Hungary) was nominated as the NESCAC Rookie of the Year, and Head Coach Wendy Bartlett was selected as the NESCAC Coach of the Year.