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Menlo Park boy wins squash title

F. Gabriel Morgan, 14, of Menlo Park was crowned National Champion at the U.S. Junior Squash Championships held March 18 at Yale University.

Playing at Yale's Brady Squash Center, he competed in the Boys under 15 division and was undefeated in five straight matches en route to his first national title. During the weekend at Yale, 320 U.S. junior squash players competed in the tournament.

An eighth-grader at St. Raymond School in Menlo Park, Gabriel is the first junior from California to be crowned a national champion in squash. He first played squash at age 6, but "became serious about it when he was 9," says his dad, Reynolds Morgan.

The youth plays at the Olympic Club, Stanford University, the Pacific Athletic Club, and the Squash Club of Los Gatos, where he trains three times a week with Gareth Webber, former associate head squash coach at Yale.

"It gets a little crazy because he's also an elite tennis player," says Gabriel's dad.

This summer Gabriel will travel to Capetown, Africa, to train with his original squash coach, Mark Allen. He also works with Richard Elliott, assistant squash coach at Stanford University.

Gabriel, son of Wendy and Reynolds Morgan, will enter Menlo School in the fall.