Thank you to everyone who participated in the 45th Annual Northwest Open. The tournament was very successful this year, thanks to our sponsors: Rod Jackson of Industrial Supply, Dean Hendrickson of Resers & Scott Wheeler of Lithtex. We had a great weekend of racquetball to say the least! The Men’s Open division definitely did NOT disappoint the crowd. Jimmy Lowe came to us from Hawaii and took third place after losing to B.C’s Tanner Mattson in the semi finals, but beating Bill Napier to take third.
BAC’s own, Jake Birnel made it to the finals for the first time in this tournament! He has been playing in the Northwest Open for as long as he can remember and this was his year to take the cake! The final match between Jake and Tanner was an incredible display of sportsmanship, passion for the game and good racquetball. They battled to the very end of the tiebreaker, Jake coming out on top 11-8.
I’ve been at BAC for almost 10 years, watching the Birnel boys grow up. There was something really special about being able to watch this match and hand Jake that prize money!
We ended up with 72 participants, smaller then the past but very fun and intimate. We had all matches at BAC, and didn’t even have to use court 6, we ran on time all weekend and were out of the club before closing both nights those items alone make it a successful weekend in my book.
Again, thanks to all of our sponsors and the staff of BAC that helped keep things on track, we couldn’t do it without you!
