Forester sophomore Leo Canales and senior Matthew Chu met in the final of the Men's Open Consolation bracket at the 2016 Illinois Handball Association Men's and Women's Singles Tournament over the weekend.
Canales took the match 21-9, 21-7. Both players had won in the Open Division round of 16, Chu against the event's fourth-seeded player, but fell in the quarterfinals. Canales and Chu then knocked off Lake Forest College alumni Arturo Herrera and Peter Jansen, respectively, in the Open Consolation quarterfinals before defeating other local players in the semifinals.
Nikolai Nahorniak, a 2011 graduate of the College, was the Men's Open champion, defeating David Munson, a Forester from 2000-04, in the final.
The Open champion on the women's side was also a former Forester. Megan Mehilos Dorneker, a classmate of Munson and Forester Athletic Hall of Fame member, defeated senior Lisa Ledvora in the quarterfinals on her way to one of many state titles.
Ledvora, senior Christi Valicenti, and sophomore Kyra Vidas played in the Women's Open Consolation bracket, where Vidas defeated Ledvora 21-18, 11-21, 11-8 before falling in the semifinals. Valicenti was also eliminated in the semifinal round.
Sophomore Ricardo Palma rattled off four consecutive wins, including triumphs over each of the bracket's top three seeds, to claim the Men's A Division title. He recorded a convincing 21-1, 21-5 victory in the championship match. Classmate Max Roberts won to advance to the round of 16 in the A Division and prevailed again to reach the A Consolation semifinals.
Sophomore Carter Kounovsky won twice in the Men's B Division before falling to the eventual champion in the semifinal round.
Nine Foresters competed in the Women's B Division, where seniors Marina Alessi and Jessica Chang advanced to the semifinals. Junior Sophia Goss, sophomore Bethany Fyffe, and freshman Billie Rodman reached the bracket's quarterfinal round. Sophomore Frankie Corrado and freshman Lily Shehadi were eventually eliminated in the B Consolation semifinals.
After a weekend off from competition, Lake Forest will travel to Indianapolis for the Circle City Tournament February 5-7.
