The Taco Tournament concluded Sunday with a morning of final matches. The professional Kiva Open finished up Saturday evening (more on it below). Both tournaments were played at Santa Fe’s Kiva Club.
Both tournaments were supported by a large number of club members, from financial sponsors, to those providing housing for the pro players, to tournament committee members, to players in the Taco Tournament.
The two tournaments gave all members the chance to watch high-level professional squash as well as the opportunity to test their mettle against skilled players from around the country — from California to Florida, Montana and Massachusetts to Georgia.
Palace Prime Steak & Seafood (Dan Perry), Nexus Health (Scott Herbert) and Mile High Sports (Grant Davis) were major sponsors, along with Above Sea Level Seafood (Butch Wilder), Warren Jones, Dr. Joshua Brown, Walter Burke Catering, The Gallagher Group at Morgan Stanley (Sean Gallagher), Chris Baker, Purdy Jordan, Jim Leonard, Dave Matthews, Matt Wilson, Courtney Carswell, Josiah Child, Jeff Pollock, Sloan Swanson, Grant Robinson, Paul Zeller, Tom Spier and Gil Frith. Other members helped out by serving on the tournament committee or by providing housing for the pro players, including David Barker, Bruce Bernstein, Doug Campbell, Sandy Clark, Glenn Conroy, David Dodge, Ryan Dodge, Tim Farrell, Paul Kaufman, Stuart Kirk, Michael Mahony, Max Myers, Tom Noble, David Oberstein, Tim Ogborn, Graydon Thorn and Richard Yates.
Club pro Drewe Williams put in many hours — planning, arranging, cajoling and playing.
Doug Campbell and Ryan Dodge are co-chairs of the tournament committee.
Feedback from players was extremely positive and complimentary to the club.
Here are the Taco Tournament winners and finalists in each division:
‘A’ DOUBLES
Champions: Sawyer Duncan (Atlanta) and John Woodhams (Atlanta)
Finalists: Lefika Ragonste (Amherst, MA) and Busani Xaba (Amherst)
‘B’ DOUBLES
Champions: David Barker and Grant Robinson (both Kiva)
Finalists: Walter Burke and Jesse Giron (both Kiva)
‘C’ DOUBLES
Champions: Bonny-Bleu Ramsey (Missoula, MT) and Stephen Velie (with Jeff Pollock filling in for Velie in the final; Pollock and Velie both Kiva)
Finalists: Lani Rieger (Golden, CO) and John Woodhams (Atlanta)
5.5 SINGLES
Champ: Ian Squiers (Westminster, CO)
Finalist: Will Moore (Boulder, CO)
4.5 SINGLES
Champ: Jesse Giron (Kiva)
Finalist: Jermaine Xaba
3.5 SINGLES
Champ: Frankie Cole (Aurora, CO)
Finalist: James Stahlkrantz (Superior, CO)
2.5 SINGLES
Champ: Pierre Graas (Denver)
Finalist: Lani Rieger (Golden, CO)
The Kiva Open was a four-day showcase of top-flight singles squash. The Professional Squash Association Challenger Series tournament had a $6,000 purse, and gave 16 young pros a chance to earn ranking points.
The final match was played Saturday evening before a standing-room-only viewing area packed with enthusiastic spectators.
Mexican Alejandro Reyes took the title, beating American Dillon Huang, three games to none.
You can read about the Kiva Open by clicking the link below: