Pacific Northwest Handball

2007 Washington State Championships

Players competing in the Washington State Handball Tournament, March 9-11, in Bremerton went home with their usual bumps and sore muscles.
None, however, were as bruised, battered and bloodied as Tacoma’s Steve Sand.
Sand won his semifinals match on Saturday and was scheduled to play Bremerton’s Jim Spencer in the 50 singles championship match the following morning at the Bremerton Tennis & Athletic Club.
On the way from his home in Gig Harbor, Sand knew he’d better prepare for a long, grueling match against Spencer. All of Spencer’s matches, it seems, are that way.
So the 58-year-old Sand, a lefty who was a pitcher at Southern Cal in the late 1960s, decided to hydrate before the match. He pulled off the four-lane road that winds along the waterfront coming into Bremerton to get a bottle of water out of his back seat.
While doing this, he was hit by a trailing car.
Sand, fortunately and miraculously, wasn’t seriously injured, but after a stop at the local hospital, he hobbled into athletic club on crutches. His left leg was wrapped from his knee to his ankle, but it wasn’t broken. He was sporting a couple of serious black eyes, and was bleeding from a cut above his right eye that needed stitches. He thinks he might have broken a toe.
“I probably would have felt a lot worse if I’d played Jim,” Sand said.
The injuries will keep Sand out of regionals and nationals this year.
Other than Sand's accident and the low turnout -- only 55 players entered -- the tournament went off without a hitch. "We were hoping for 80," said tournament director Glenn Carden, who had to combine divisions and use round-robin formats in others to make it work.
Bremerton’s Jon Hohol and Carden played Sunday for the Open singles title as both had won two previous matches. The 27-year-old Hohol, who has raised his game this past year to an even higher level, still had to dig down to beat the 55-year-old Carden, 21-6, 10-21, 11-5.
Carden teamed with Seattle's Pete Halkaker to win the Open doubles title; Jim Wainwright (from remerton and Seattle's Brian Henson were second.

Washington State Tournament
At Bremerton Tennis & Athletic Club
Open singles (round robin format) – 1, Jon Hohol; 2, Glenn Carden.
A Singles (round robin) – 1, Kevin Price; 2, Gil Mendoza.
C Singles – Maxx Bennett d. Issac Gmazel 21-2, 21-6.
50 Singles – Finalists: Jim Spencer vs. Steve Sand (to be played at a later date)
50 B Singles – Rob Price d. Ron Going 14-21, 21-17, 11-10.
60 Singles – Jerry Ruth d. Dennis Cruchon 21-7, 21-11.
Open Doubles (round robin) – 1, Carden-Pete Halfaker; 2, Wainwright- Henson.
A Doubles – Dirk Frew-Danny Muenz d. Kevin Price-Rob Price 21-12, 21-7.
B Doubles – Dave Kerrone-Mike Morehart d. Ron Going-Jack Cherrington 21-6, 21-9.
50 Doubles – Ron Ewing-Carl Mattson d. Spencer-Chuck Stark 12-21, 21-8, 11-6

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Posted on 20 Mar 2007 by Glenn