HEAD High School Nationals Welcome 1600 Players to Hartford

The 2020 HEAD U.S. High School Team Squash Championships–one of the largest squash tournaments in the world–welcomes more than 1600 players competing on nearly 200 teams to the greater Hartford, Connecticut area this weekend, February 21-23, at Trinity College, Wesleyan University, Avon Old Farms, Loomis Chaffee and Westminster.

The seven-player teams are competing across thirteen draws–Boys’ Divisions 1-7 and Girls’ Divisions 1-6. Follow live streaming from two courts at Trinity on ussquash.com/live and live scores for all matches on the High School Nationals Club Locker page.

Greenwich, Connecticut’s reigning national champions Brunswick and Greenwich Academy return to defend the Patterson Cup (Girls’ Division 1) and Justi Cup (Boys’ Division 1) as the tournament’s top seeds. The two programs have brought both cups back to Greenwich three times since their first title sweep in 2016, and could make it three in a row this weekend should the seeding hold.

The Justi Cup division fields four past champions in Brunswick, Haverford, Episcopal Academy and Avon Old Farms. Brunswick could face Avon or New York City’s St. Ann’s in the quarterfinals, and are predicted to face four seeds the Kent School in the semifinals–Kent’s highest High School Nationals seeding in program history. The Fords, the 2017 champions, oppose Brunswick as the two seeds and could set up a fourth-consecutive Brunswick-Haverford final, but may need to get past three seeds EA in the semifinals first.

Greenwich Academy’s unprecedented High School Nationals dominance extends back to the inaugural Patterson Cup title in 2005. Since 2005, the Gators have won all but two Patterson Cups, only falling short against Episcopal Academy in 2007 and Baldwin in 2015. GA could face an all-Greenwich semifinal against four seeds Sacred Heart, whose Varsity B side won the inaugural Interscholastic Championship last weekend. The Baldwin Bears could have another chance to dethrone GA as the two seeds, but may face a difficult challenge from two-time finalists Agnes Irwin, the three seeds, in an all-Philadelphia semifinal.

2020 marks the fourth year of HEAD’s title sponsor support.

Match play begins at 8am on Friday, February 21.