The 2007 New Mexico Pro Am

Albuquerque New Mexico October 25-28


Rocky Carson with Event Director Gary Mazaroff after winning the event

Albuquerque NM - The top racquetball players in the world converged on
 
Albuquerque at the New Mexico Sports and Wellness Midtown location for the

fifth full ranking event of the season for the IRT.  The players were all geared up

for the altitude in the “real mile high city” Albuquerque New Mexico. Denver has
 
the Rocky Mountains but Albuquerque has the Sandia and Manzano Mountains

which offers the most beautiful sunsets in the world. The event drew the largest

draw of players on the NMRA schedule and the hard hitting sound of the Pro

Penn HD ball rang loud all weekend. Gary Mazaroff and Paula Sperling do a

tremendous amount for racquetball across the country as well here in their
 
hometown. This facility is also the host site for the IRF World Senior

Championships held event September and is run by Gary and Paula. The players

are treated well here and each year this event continues to grow.

The qualifying draw included a few of the toughest that Mexico has to offer in tour

staples Javier Moreno, Polo Gutierrez along with the former world eighteen and

under champion Alejandro Herrera and his brother Roman. It would also see the

likes of former top four IRT professional John Ellis and current CPRT number

one Woody Clouse. Alejandro Landa would pull off the biggest upset in the

qualifying round by taking out Javier Moreno in a five game “batalla” winning

game five 13-11. The rest of the top seeds would advance with little fanfair.

The round of sixteen had one big upset as former top touring pro John Ellis making

a comeback this year; upset Jason Mannino in a five game marathon. John has

changed his game style and has been playing some great ball this year.

The “wonder kid” from The Motorola World Racquetball Championship Polo

Gutierrez could not repeat his story book play in New Mexico as Jack Huczek

diposed of him in three straight. Jason Thoerner would make it two in a row

against Chris Crowther wining in four close games. Shane Vanderson would stop

Alejandro Landa’s run of great ball taking out the youngster in four. Andy
 
Hawthorne would have a battle against Ben Croft and take the match in four

games. Woody Clouse would give Alvaro Beltran all he could handle but Beltran

would advance in five.  Mitch Williams brought out the cannin and took out

Alejandro Herrera in four and Rocky Carson would take down Charlie Pratt in
 
three to close out the round of sixteen.

The quarterfinals would see all but one of the top seeds advance as #2 Rocky

Carson took #10 Andy Hawthorne in three, #1 Jack Huczek would get by #9

Jason Thoerner in three. #5 Shane Vanderson ha had some battles with #4 Alvaro

Beltran and this one would be no different and Shane would advance in four

games. #6 Mitch Willams would end John Ellis’s run winning in four and giving

Mitch his first sem-final appearnace of his career.

The sem-finals would begin late afternnon on Saturday and begin with Mitch

Williams against Rocky Carson. Mitch came out blasting and taking game one. He

continued his top notch play in the second but a few unforced errors would allow

Rocky to take the second and gain the momentum. Carson would win this one in

four (8) 10 7 3 to advance on to his second final of the season. On the other side

Jack Huczek would match up against Shane Vanderson. Huczek came out rolling

the first game not missing a thing and Shane struggling to find a game. Jack would
 
let down a bit in the second and Vanderson’s game came back to life before losing

a close game two to Jack. The next two games would go to Vanderson as a

combination of unforced errors by Huczek and terrific backhands and clutch
 
forehands by Vanderson would keep him in the match. The fifth was a great game

with both player hitting clutch shots when they needed them. It would be Huczek

in the end and moving to the final 0 9 (6) (12) 10 to meet up with Rocky.

The final at noon Sunday was set with #1 Jack Huczek against #2 Rocky Carson.

Jack came out with a tough game plan in the first keeping Rocky in the back court
 
and off balance most of the game. The first game would go to Huczek 11-9.

Carson would regroup after the first and make some adjustments that worked

wonders for him. Rocky was aided with some uncharacteristic unforced errors in
 
the next three games and Carson took full advantage taking his second title of the

year, (9) 7 2 2 and closing the gap on the number one ranking.

Side notes:

Hats off and a big thank you to Gary Mazaroff and Paula Sperling for putting on another great event in Albuquerque.  It is a tribute to you that the event was the largest in recent history. Also thank you to all the many volunteers that helped out with rides for the pros and commissioner. There was a good turnout for all the matches and the fans were treated to some solid racquetball all weekend. The semi-finals were stellar as was the final. The altitude did not seem to bother or affect the play this weekend.

New Mexico Sports and Wellness Midtown is a fantastic club and will be more impressive after the remodeling is complete.

Congrats to Rocky for taking his second final of the season and to Mitch Williams for reaching his first semi of his young career. Shane Vanderson stepped up his game this weekend and it showed.

Great to see John Ellis back in the mix after a few years off recovering from shoulder surgery. John is a class act and playing a big role in Ektelon and it growth.

Ken Goldstein and Chris Evans nice seeing you guys and expect to see your label next year on your homebrew!! Robert Lee we missed your party this year, maybe next year?

We look forward to coming back again next year for the 2008 New Mexico Pro Am!!!!