Local man headed for Hungary after claiming national universities & colleges squash crown

Experience won out over rookie exuberance this past weekend as Georgetown's Andrew Jones captured the men's title for the Black Knight Canadian Universities & Colleges squash championships at the University of Toronto. The 24-year-old Jones, a fifth-year University of Western Ontario student aiming to earn his teacher's college degree, defeated Mustang teammate Iain Crozier, a 19-year-old freshman from Winnipeg, in three straight sets in Sunday's finale. It was the fifth consecutive year that Jones had made the Black Knight championship match, having lost to Western teammmate Rob Nigro the four previous occasions. The spectators on hand for Sunday's final were backing Jones to close out his university squash career on a winning bounce over the number-one-seed Crozier, who had beaten Jones during the OUA playoffs. "I really surprised myself. There have been a lot of things going on outside of squash for me lately and I wasn't thinking about playing as much, which maybe helped me," said Jones, whose home base is the Georgetown Racquet Club. "I didn't train as much as I had planned, but I did do a lot of running and biking, and I think that helped me clear my mind. Sometimes I don't play well when I'm too focused on squash and I was able to keep control, just staying calm and confident." Jones nearly crashed out of the tournament in Saturday's best-of-5 semi-finals as he was down two games to none to a University of Waterloo opponent, yet rallied to victory, playing the best squash his mother Pat says she's seen from him. He struggled somewhat in the first game against Crozier on Sunday, grinding out a 9-7 win, before taking control with 9-3 and 9-0 victories to clinch the title, retrieving shots from nearly every angle on the court to handcuff his less-experienced teammate. With the victory, Jones earned the opportunity to represent Canada at the 2006 FISU World University Championships, to be held in Budapest, Hungary in August. He has played in previous world junior championships and would love to delve into the international experience again. "It sounds very exciting. I will have to contact Squash Canada to get some more details about it," added Jones, who will complete his studies at Western at the end of April. "They're covering my accommodation and registration and we have to look after the flight, so we'll probably be looking for sponsors, but it all has been a lot of fun. To win the (Canadian championship) in my last kick at the can was really satisfying." Jones credits his coach at Western, Jack Fairs, for helping him finally claim the title. The Mustangs have won an incredible 23 straight Ontario team championships in men's varsity squash.