Friday
St. Louis, MO, WPH Press, 1/12/24
The first St. Louis Chapman Memorial marked the eighty-fourth event in the history of the Race 4 Eight tour, with the tour spanning eighteen states in the R48’s first twelve seasons. The 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial featured twenty-four R48 Men’s Pros, eight current or former WR48 pros and a strong SR48 field, making the 2024 Race 4 Eight St. Louis Memorial one of the strongest draws in the twelve-year history of the Race 4 Eight tour.
The St. Louis Memorial was created to honor David Chapman, known simply as “The Great One.” Chapman was a force of nature, dominating pro handball from the age of seventeen until his early thirties with a style and swagger never duplicated.
The 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial was also created to showcase the vibrant St. Louis handball community and all of the great men’s and women’s players in St. Louis and throughout the Midwest.
R48 Men’s Pro
The R48 Men’s Pro Chapman Memorial featured one of the largest and deepest draws in the history of the tour, with twenty-three ranked pros, ten formerly ranked pros and several future ranked pros.
R48 Men’s Pro Round of 16
R48 #1 and ten-time Race 4 Eight champion Lucho Cordova faced a stiff challenge in his round of 16 clash against Ireland’s David Walsh. After a close first game that saw Lucho injure his right thumb, Walsh surged to a 13-9 lead in game two. Several hundred watching courtside were prepared for a tiebreaker but Lucho had other ideas, digging his way back into the game and scoring the final six points of the game to move into the quarterfinals.
R48 #2 Martin Mulkerrins and his brother Diarmuid became the third set of brothers to face off in a Race 4 Eight main draw match (Cordovas, Garners). Martin took control early, steamrolling his younger brother for a straight sets win. “I played reasonably well but Diarmuid did not play his best and made a lot of hand errors,” stated a torn Martin.
2023 Tucson Memorial champion faced tournament director and Hinder Club league MVP Jeff Streibig. Streibig has mastered the left-side glass sidewall that was built three years ago on the Hinder Club show court but was not able to capitalize. After dropping the first, the hometown hero led 9-7 in the second but four straight errors halted his momentum and Danos cruised to the quarterfinals with a string of kills.
2023 R48 Icebreaker finalist David Fink faced longtime rival Stephen Cooney in what is always a battle between the two. Fink led 5-0 to start the match but was outscored 13-2 in the next fifteen points. “My dad flew into St. Louis to surprise me and he was close to going straight back to the airport (at 7-13),” Fink would later say. Fink tied the score at 13 but consecutive errors gave Cooney game point at 14-13. A number of side outs followed, with both making clutch deep court shots to stay in the game. Fink took control in overtime, winning 16-14. Fink surged to a 13-5 lead in the second when Cooney pulled his calf going for a fly kill, abruptly bringing an end to the match.
2023 Player’s Championship finalist Leo Canales scored his first quarterfinal of the season, downing Chapman Memorial brother’s namesake John Chapman. “It was a good match,” stated Chapman. “There were not a lot of side outs and we both hit a lot of kills.”
Sam Esser played flawlessly in his round of 16 match with Mark Doyle, never allowing Doyle into the match. After beating Doyle 15-13 in a tiebreaker in the first stop of the year in Portland, Esser was never threatened, ending Doyle’s round of 16 tiebreaker streak at six. “I felt really good, my right arm feels good,” stated Esser.
22-time Race 4 Eight champion Killian Carroll faced his 2016 vanquisher Vic Perez, known on the tour as “Mr. Consistency.” Perez pushed the greatest R48 Men’s Pro champion in history, extending rallies and impressively scoring twelve in the second game.
Making his first Race 4 Eight start, Ireland’s Daniel Relihan upset eighth-seeded Ivan Burgos in the round of 32 and continued his march through the draw by dispatching Chicago’s Dave Munson to move to 3-0 in his Race career, currently the only undefeated player in the history of the Race tour.
Round of 16
Lucho def Walsh 15-12, 15-13
Mulkerrins def D. Mulkerrins 15-5, 15-5
Danos def Streibig 15-6, 15-9
Fink def Cooney 16-14, 13-5 (inj. fft)
Canales def J. Chapman 15-9, 15-10
Esser def Doyle 15-8, 15-4
Carroll def Perez 15-6, 15-12
Relihan def D. Munson 15-3, 15-11
R48 Men’s Pro Round of 8 (Saturday, all times CST)
Lucho vs. Relihan 9 am
Fink vs. Canales 10 am
Danos vs. Esser 11 am
Killian vs. Mulkerrins Noon
WR48
The largest WR48 field in the tour’s history kicked off on Friday in St. Louis, as Catriona Casey began her quest for her fifteenth straight WR48 title and twenty-seventh WR48 title. Casey and the other top eight seeds advanced to the WR48 quarterfinals on Saturday morning, with all eight of the top seeds winning in two games.
WR48 Round of 8 (Saturday, all times CST)
Casey vs. Holden
Esser vs. Munroe
Ni Churraoin vs. Bell
Ruiz vs. Heffernan
2024 Chapman Memorial Broadcast Schedule on ESPN: Saturday, January 13, 9 am-7 pm CST, Sunday, January 14, 10 am-1:30 pm CST
Chapman Memorial Press Release HERE
Follow the draws and results from the 2024 Race 4 Eight Chapman Memorial HERE
Current Race 4 Eight Rankings R48 Men’s Pro Rankings HERE
Current WR48 and SR48 rankings HERE
Handball Terminology + Instruction and R48 Rules HERE
Race 4 Eight Pro Player Bios HERE
DF’s R48 Fun Facts and Trends + Race 4 Eight History of Champions HERE
2023/24 Race 4 Eight schedule HERE
WPH Coaching Center Instructional Videos HERE
2023 JR WPH Portfolio HERE
Support the sport and become a WPH Patreon HERE
WPH RACE 4 EIGHT: The World Players of Handball’s 2023/24 Race 4 Eight XIII Powered by ESPN features Race 4 Eight stops in Oregon, Arizona, Missouri, Montana and Mexico, all culminating with The Player’s Championship in Utah in May of 2024. Similar to NASCAR’s Nextel Cup and the FedEx PGA Playoffs, players earn points in the Race 4 Eight’s regular season stops to qualify for the season-ending Player’s Championship and bonus prizes.
For more information on the WPH Race 4 Eight title sponsor opportunity, please contact World Players of Handball Executive Director David Vincent at dave.vincent@wphlive.tv or World Players of Handball Development Director David Fink at david.fink@wphlive.tv. For more information on the World Players of Handball, please visit wphlive.tv
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer
WPH R48Pro Stop #4 Chapman Memorial
ESPN+ Broadcast Schedule – All Times Central Zone (Local Time)
St. Louis, Missouri
Saturday, January 13, 2024
09:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Luis Cordova vs Daniel Relihan
10:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Leo Canales Jr vs David Fink
11:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Daniel Cordova vs Sam Esser
12:00 Men’s Quarterfinal Singles – Martin Mulkerrins vs Killian Carroll
12:45 Women’s Semifinal Singles – Casey or Holden vs Esser or Munroe
13:30 Women’s Semifinal Singles – Ni Churraoin or Bell vs Heffernan or Ruiz
14:15 Senior 40+ Semifinal Singles – Fink or Pelech vs Kaplan or Pettus
15:00 Senior 40+ Semifinal Singles – English or Munson vs Scherzer or Mehilos
16:00 Men’s Semifinal Singles – Luis Cordova or Daniel Relihan vs Leo Canales Jr or David Fink
17:00 Men’s Semifinal Singles – Daniel Cordova or Sam Esser vs Martin Mulkerrins or Killian Carroll
Sunday, January 14, 2024
09:00 Men’s 5th or 9th Place Final (TBD)
09:45 Men’s 40+ Senior Final (TBD)
10:30 Women’s Pro Singles Final (TBD)
11:30 Men’s Pro Singles Final (TBD)