It is a testament to the No. 9 Penn men's squash team's success this season that a freshman will be one of three players at this weekend's Individual Championships at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Freshman Jacob Himmelrich will join sophomore Richard Repetto in the top flight, while senior co-captain Sam Miller will represent the Red and Blue in the lower bracket. "I've been very happy with how I've been playing lately," Himmelrich said. "If I can continue having good results, especially getting off to a good start in my first match on Friday, I don't see why I can't go far in the tournament." Himmelrich was quick to link his individual progress with that of the program as a whole. "I think it shows that Penn's becoming a more attractive place for recruits to come," he said. "That comes from the team having better results and the hard work of our upper-classmen and definitely our coach, Craig Thorpe-Clarke." Himmelrich received votes but was not ranked in the latest SquashTalk.com individual rankings. This is the third week this season in which he has received votes -- he had been voteless for the past three weeks, though. "It shows good signs of improvement in our program," nationally-ranked No. 9 sophomore Richard Repetto said. "I think this is the first time that we've had two in the top division." Repetto has set himself a goal of reaching the quarterfinals this weekend. Should he get that far, he is anticipating facing Cornell's No. 16 Matthew Serediak in the second round, and possibly squaring off for a third time this season against Princeton's Yasser El-Halaby in the quarterfinals. Last week El-Halaby swept national No. 1, Trintiy's Bernardo Samper, in the team championships at Princeton. Repetto does not expect to see the same result against Serendiak this weekend as he did last Saturday, in which he lost the match after being up two games to none. "My eyes have opened a little bit since last week," Repetto said. "I won't go to sleep in the third game like I did last week." As for El-Halaby -- "you can't really go past that unless he breaks a leg," Repetto said. Repetto does not wish any such harm on Princeton's star, however. "He's a really nice kid and we get a long really well -- no animosity, whatsover." "I don't mind getting beaten by a kid as long as he has a smile on his face," he added. Repetto believes that much of the pressure this weekend will be on Trinity's No. 1, sophomore Bernardo Samper. "It's [his] home court," Repetto said. Samper will likely have a leg up on the competition because of his familiarity with Trinity's glass-walled main court, as well as being in good stead with the vocal Bantams fans. But Repetto would not dismiss El-Halaby's chances of winning the championship. El-Halaby is "a player at the top level and he's got a lot of match experience and tournament experience," Repetto said. "When he wants to get serious, he'll get serious, and you can really see the true side of the way he plays."
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