The 2002 Boys 18 & 16 Super National Championships concluded Sunday when second seed Prakash Amritraj of Encino CA beat Douglas Stewart of Malibu CA in the Boys 18 singles title match 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Eighteenth seed Travis Helgeson of Overland Park KS captured the Boys 16s singles championship becoming the lowest seed to ever win a singles title in Kalamazoo. He defeated second seed Vahid Mirzadeh of Wellington FL,6-3, 6-4.

Earlier in the day, 4th seed Robert Yim of Glendale CA won a gruelling third place match over top seed Brian Baker of Nashville TN. Tenth seed Kean Feeder of Portland OR finished 5th, winning the 18s Feed-In championship over 13th seed Ryler De Heart of Tampa FL.

In the 18 Doubles Championship defending champions and top seeds Jonathan Stokke of Durham NC and Rajeev Ram of Carmel IN won their third consecutive title in Kalmazoo with a 7-6(2),6-2 victory over John Isner of Greensboro NC and partner Brett Ross of Roswell GA, who were the ninth seeds.

Tenth seed Scoville Jenkins of Atlanta GA finished third, defeating Philip Kao of Cupertino CA (25). Monte Tucker of Birmingham AL(14) won the Feed In Championship over Alex Kuznetsov of Richboro PA (8).

Ninth seeds Mirzadeh and partner Nick Rinks of Kalamazoo MI took the 16s doubles title over Californians Adam Loucks and Brandon Wai (11). Rinks became the first player from Kalamazoo to win a title in either division(8).

In addition to Championship trophies, there were other significant awards distributed at the Super Nationals. The 2002 Wes Richards Sportsmanship Award for Feed Ins went to Nick Meythaler of Owensboro KY. The Bobby Kaplan Sportsmanship Award for the 16s was given to Brandon Wai of San Diego CA. Jonathon Stokke of Durham NC won the Dr. Allen B. Stowe Sportsmanship Award for the 18s Division.

Awards were also given to tournament officials and volunteers who helped make the 2002 tournament such a success. The Ron and Kathy Creager Outstanding Umpire Award was awarded to Sally Paulus of Midland MI. John Brown, Chairman and CEO of Stryker Corporation, was named Honorary Referee; Bobbi Lam won the RX Optical Distinguished Service Award. The 2002 Burger King Green Jacket award was presented this year to Bille Hayward and Marcia Koestner. Terry Cooper and Dick Hutter were the recipients of the Borgess Community Service Award.

Source: Colette Lewis (Tournament Office)