"Rocket" Rein-Weston's Run
World Junior Women's Champs
Claire Rein-Weston; photo courtesy USSRA
12th World Junior Women's Championship
After an evening spent drifting along the Nile, the HEAD/USSRA National Junior Women's Team prepared for action at the 12th World Junior Women's Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
The Individual Competition opened for the US with Claire “rocket” Rein-Weston running vigorously around court en route to a 3-0 victory over Scotland's Claire Kidd. Audrey Duboc, Lauren McCrery and Christina Fast rounded out the morning competition; each fell behind early and dropped her opening match against Priscilla Wildsmith [NZ], Siti Munirah [MAL] and Georgina Stoker [ENG], respectively.
After a brief afternoon respite, “the rocket” was charged and ready for the second round match against Sally Looi of Malaysia, a World Junior Championships veteran. According to assistant coach Natalie Pohrer, “Claire showed a brilliant spark at 2-1 down” which resurrected and pushed her to an eventual 10-8 victory in the fifth. A stunning victory and proud moment for the US Team indeed!
The final match of the day pitted US National Junior Champion Lily Lorentzen against England's Rachel Wilmont. A volley of terrific points kept the audience on edge of their seats throughout the match, but the English opponent ultimately prevailed 3-1.
According to Head Coach Aidan Harrison, a valuable lesson was taken from the first day of competition: the importance of international experience. He noted that, except for a lone test-match in Calgary in July 2002, US team members have not played a match on foreign soil in the past eighteen months. The US Team will look to improve upon their preliminary Team Seeding (10th) with performances in the Consolation Plate.
