Colorado State University - Pueblo racquetball team earns fifth straight men’s crown

Pueblo-  The Colorado State University-Pueblo men’s racquetball team won its fifth straight men’s national team title last month at the 2008 USA National Intercollegiate Racquetball Championships at the Athletic Club of Overland Park (KS).

The tournament featured nearly 300 of the country’s best college racquetball players representing 46 colleges and universities across the nation. The CSU-Pueblo men’s team earned the men’s title, amassing 1800 points to second place University of Alabama with 1400. Oregon State University was the winner of the overall team title with combined points from the men and women, while Brigham Young University took the women’s team title. CSU-Pueblo had players in six of the nine finals and won five of those contests. Four of those finals went to tiebreakers.

CSU-Pueblo’s Tony Carson, junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., defeated Anthony Herrera of the University of Colorado in the #1 men’s singles, 12-15, 15-14, and 11-6.The victory earned Carson a one-year spot on the U.S. National Racquetball team. Charlie Pratt, sophomore from Portland, Ore., beat Daryl Miller from University of Alabama in straight games at the #2 singles. In addition, freshmen Jose Ramos, Chihuahua, Mexico, and graduate student Tony Jammal, Roseville, Calif., won the #3 and #4 singles titles, respectively. Carson and Pratt won the #1 doubles title over Harry Fuller and Zach Apperson of Baldwin Wallace College (OH).

Racquetball Club Advisor and Coach Richard Krinsky said the victory was most impressive given that all the players were freshmen new to the team and relatively new to the intercollegiate circuit.

“The past couple years we’ve had a great deal of experienced players who I expected to carry on the tradition of excellence here at CSU-Pueblo,” Krinsky said. “The youth of this team could have been seen as a disadvantage, but they performed admirably and opened a few eyes across the country.”

The CSU-Pueblo men’s racquetball team has won 11 national men’s titles since 1998, including every title since 2004.



Colorado State University - Pueblo is a regional, comprehensive university emphasizing professional, career-oriented, and applied programs. Displaying excellence in teaching, celebrating diversity, and engaging in service and outreach, CSU-Pueblo is distinguished by access, opportunity, and the overall quality of services provided to its students.