Flagstaff, AZ, WPH Press, 7/27/24
The Flagstaff Athletic Club and tournament directors Matt Ortega and Sam Esser played host to the 2024 Arizona State 4-Wall Championships, offering Arizonans and New Mexicans a reprieve from the 100+ degree heat at 6,821 feet of elevation.
Race 4 Eight pros Leo Canales, Ivan Burgos, Shorty Ruiz, Abraham Montijo, and John Chapman made the trip to the City of Seven Wonders with the aim of becoming the 2024 AZ State 4-Wall champion.
Canales entered Flagstaff as the top seed and narrowly squeaked past Colorado’s Race 4 Eight #23 in the semifinals. The pair had met in January at the R48 St. Louis and played a similarly close match to Saturday’s Flagstaff semifinal. “John was playing really good handball,” Leo would later say after defeating Chapman 15-14, 15-14. “I struggle to get John out of the front court.”
2024 Race 4 Eight Juarez semifinalist Ivan Burgos awaited Canales in the final after dispatching fellow Tucson pro Max Langmack in two games in the semifinals.
The top ten Race 4 Eight pros battled in the final, fighting the altitude and fatigue from playing two divisions in the twenty-hour event.
“In the first game, Ivan was up 8-7 but I was able to push him back and he missed some kill shots from the back court,” stated Canales. Canales won the first game with an eight-point streak and with Burgos leading midway through the second game, R48 #10 Burgos was forced to retire with cramps.
Canales has now finished in the top three in his last five starts, taking third at May’s Player’s Championship, third at June’s Nationals, second at July’s LaGrange, second at July’s Julybreaker, and winning Flagstaff.
Men’s Open Singles
Semifinals
Canales def Chapman 15-14, 15-14
Burgos def Langmack 15-7, 15-13
Final: Canales def Burgos 15-8, 8-10 (inj. fft)
Open Doubles Champions: Esser/Ruiz
A Singles: J. Maldonado def A. Ruiz 15-7, 15-3
40 Singles Champion: Kristopher Ortega
Follow all of the brackets from the 2024 AZ State Championships HERE
Enter the WPH’s August 17-18 3-Wall Small Ball and Big Ball Ice Bowl at Clark Park in Tucson HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer