Youth, side-by-side with the veterans, was the name of the game at this year's Nationals. With the Paralympics in sight, some of the younger set were hungry for a shot at the "big boys."

The first events of the tournament created the first evidence of these upsets. In class events, the most highly contested events were the Class 1 Men's (which was combined with Class 2 Men's) and Class 3 Men's events. In Class 1, a talented young newcomer, David Wagner, from Washington, in his first year of competition, shook up the field by coming in second to previous international medalist Brett Weymouth from Maine. This match, which went to three games, determined the first and second place finishes in this event. In Class 3 Men's Singles, Michael LoRusso, returning from over three years of "retirement" from the game, came back to win the event. Coming in second was, once again, the youth of the event. Tony Lara, who had a highly successful year at the World Championships in Paris, and at the Pan American Games in Mexico City, defeated James Hall, a recent regular on USA National teams. His later defeat of both LoRusso and Hall earned him a spot on the 2000 USA Paralympic Team headed for Sydney.

The Open Class events brought about only one surprise result. Men's and Women's combined Tetraplegic Open Singles, which brought together predominantly International level players, was the venue in which David Wagner finally made his mark. In this highly competitive field, David took the first place trophy and alerted us all to watch for him on USA National teams in the next millennium. The Finals of the Men's Wheelchair Open singles between Andre Scott (NJ) and Michael Dempsey (CA) was won by Scott in one of the more grueling matches of the tournament. The scores of 18, -28, and 15 tell all we need to know about the ferocity of this match-up.

For only the second time in five years, an under 19 (in disabled sport parlance - Junior Division) event was held. 13-year-old Michael Applegate (CA), in his first USATT event, defeated 14-year-old Joshua George (VA) in this now annual event, at 14 & 16

The USA National Tournament also served as the site of the Paralympic Trials for the USA National Disabled Team heading for Sydney in 2000. The trials for the Standing Disabled slots had to be moved up several hours to enable one of its principal participants to make it to Church on time. I guess we would have to check the record books to determine if Joshua Bartel was the first Table Tennis player to get married during the Nationals. He is certainly the only disabled player ever to do so!

Based on the USA Paralympic Trials and Pan American Games performances, the following players have been named to the 2000 USA National Disabled and Sydney Paralympic Table Tennis Team. (Players designated with * earned their position based on gold medal performance in the Pan American Paralympic Tournament in Mexico City, Mexico in November 1999. The balance of the team has been named based on Team Trial performance and anticipated World Ranking listings.)

MEN
Sebastian DeFrancesco - Class 1
Tony Lara - Class 3
Michael Dempsey - Class 4 *
Andre Scott - Class 5*
Joshua Bartel - Class 7*

WOMEN
Jackie DiLorenzo - Class 2*
Ruth Rosenbaum - Class 2
Jennifer Johnson - Class 4*
Terese Terranova - Class 5