Philadelphia’s Haverford School and Connecticut’s Greenwich Academy both earned their first national title since 2020 during the 2024 U.S. Middle School Squash Championships, February 2-4, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.
Seventy-eight teams competed in the sixteenth edition of the Middle School Nationals across six divisions. View all results on the Middle School Nationals tournament page. Tournament photography will be available on the US Squash Smugmug Page. Live stream replays will be available on the US Squash Youtube Channel Monday, February 5.
Greenwich Academy, the Division 1 top seeds, set up a final rematch against Philadelphia’s defending champion TEVF, after falling short 3-2 in last year’s final. Sunday’s final opened with No. 2 Lily Bragg taking the first match for GA in three games. The No. 5 match up proved to be one of the best of the tournament as GA’s Lily Captain came back from 2-1 down against Eva Jiang to win 12-10 in the fifth game sending GA up 2-0. GA’s No. 1 Chelsea Chen followed on court to seal the title with a commanding 3-0 performance. GA No. 2 Lily Bragg added another win for the Gators, and No. 3 Lara Kim earned a win for TEVF in the final match.
“The whole team is really happy and it feels great to win,” Chen said. “Leading up to the final we had a bunch of pep talks from our coach to get us ready to play. Everyone was super excited to get on and do their best. I feel like it was a great effort from everyone today. Everyone on our team is super supportive of each other. I feel like we have a really good team dynamic, which also led to our victory today. I’m really proud of our team.”
Greenwich Academy adds to the program’s title record with its ninth since the tournament’s inception in 2008.
“The girls have been working hard all season to build up to this moment, we knew the final was going to be hard and we knew it was going to come down to one or two matches.” said Jamie Sutcliffe, Greenwich Academy Head Coach. “We knew what we had to do and fortunately for us the girls really dug deep and found a way to get it across the line. Last year was a tough one, which added an element of motivation today to really push us forward. A massive congrats to the team, the girls work hard day-in day-out in training and it culminated in this moment. Thank you to all of the parents who have supported the team throughout the year.”
Boys Division 1 top seeds Haverford earned the program’s fifth national title against first-time finalists and two seeds, the Owls of Brooklyn Heights.
The No. 5 Patrick Chang and No. 4 Armaan Ibrahim Burhan earned a 2-0 lead for the Fords. Then Brooklyn’s Whit Robertson answered with a dramatic five-game win in the No. 2 position to put the Owls on the scoreboard. Haverford No. 1 Peter Pierce clinched the title for the Fords with a 3-0 win on the glass court. No. 4 Christopher Li closed out the win for the Fords for a final scoreline of 4-1.
“It feels great, we fought really hard and had some hard matches but we got through it,” said Haverford No. 2 Vance Daggett. “The final was a great 4-1 win and everyone played well and worked really hard. We worked together really well and cheered for each other which helped a lot. My teammates are all amazing and great players. I wouldn’t choose any other teammates.”
The Fords fielded three teams across the top two divisions with both the B and C teams winning the consolation brackets in Division 1 and 2, respectively.
“It feels amazing to be national champions, the boys worked really hard this year,” said Luke Massengill, Haverford Head Coach. “They showed up to practice and supported each other through every match–the good ones, the bad ones, the ups and downs. So it feels great to see them show up and win 4-1 in the final of the national championships. Our team camaraderie throughout the Haverford school–the parents, the coaches, the classmates, the teachers–was fantastic all season. Thank you to US Squash for hosting such a fantastic tournament in this great venue. I want to thank the parents and coaches and everyone involved. It’s been an amazing weekend and we’re very happy for the boys. It’s also my first national title as a coach and for our Director of Squash Alex Stait. Go Fords.”
In the Boys Division 2, the two seeded Germantown Friends School won an all-Philadelphia final against the Shipley B team 4-1. The top seeded Rye Middle School defeated the Baldwin B team 4-1 to win the Girls Division 2 title.
The closest final of the day came in the Boys Division 3 where two seeds Springside Chestnut Hill defeated Delaware’s four seeds Vicmead/THS 3-2. After winning the Division 3 title last year, Rhode Island’s Moses Brown added the Boys Division 4 title to their record with a 4-1 final win over New Canaan Country School.