Navy's Tucker George to Represent United States at U23 Can-Am Challenge

One of the premier under-23 players in the nation, George is representing the U.S. in a world competition for the second year in a row.

	Navy's No. 1 player for three consecutive seasons, senior Tucker George will compete at the U23 Can-Am Challenge Aug. 17-19 in Ontario, Canada.

Aug. 16, 2007

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Navy senior squash standout Tucker George (West Hartford, Conn.) will represent the United States at the Under-23 Can-Am Challenge beginning Friday at the White Oaks Resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, and concluding on Sunday. Dubbed "The Battle of the Border," the United States and Canada will each field a team comprised of 10 players with a best-of-five competition among the men, as well as the women.

George will play alongside current pro and four-time All-American Gilly Lane, a 2007 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. Garnett Booth, a Harvard grad who finished last spring ranked 20th, Jake Gross, a senior at Tufts who was ranked No. 56 last spring, and John Fulham, a former professional player in England, round out the squad of five who will represent the U.S. this weekend. The U.S. team will be coached by Rochester head coach Martin Heath, a standout squash player in his own right who was ranked in the top 10 in the world for six-straight years, including fourth in 1999.

It's the second consecutive year George has represented the United States in an international or national competition. In April of 2006, George turned in a 3-1 record at the U23 U.S. Squash Championship and earned a spot on the U.S. team that competed at the World Collegiate Squash Championship in Budapest, Hungary last August. While the United States has sent individuals to play in previous international competitions, it was the first time it has fielded a team for the World Collegiate Squash Championship. Comprised of three men and two women, the United States team finished fourth and featured a win over third-seeded Malaysia. George, who played against some of the best players in the world, including the top-ranked Swiss player, finished 26th in the individual competition.

George enters his senior campaign having played the No. 1 position on the ladder in each of his first three seasons at the Academy. As a freshman, he turned in a 16-8 record and finished the season ranked No. 41. In 2005-06, he produced a 15-5 mark and helped lead Navy to a No. 15 national ranking by year's end. He served as the team captain during his junior campaign, a rare honor at the Academy. He finished the year ranked No. 38 and owned a 14-10 record, including a trio of wins over opponents ranked in the top 50.

In addition to his laurels on the squash courts, George has found success in the classroom. He is ranked in the top three percent of his class of nearly 1,100 students in academics and in military order of merit, he stands 10th among his classmates. An applied mathematics major, George has turned in a 4.0 grade-point average in each of the last four semesters and boasts a 3.93 GPA heading into his final year. He has appeared on the Dean's List twice, the Superintendent's List three times and the Commandant's List five times.

###Go Navy###