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Show E .. : ' "x. - . J I ' ' if. , - - J . -' ' -.-TV-. J V , -.VJf I ' , ' I I 5 ! ' : ( ' - - . -"-tiw : -- i ' ": V ' 1 ! 1 tr:m - - -iS-----4 PLACES SECOND : Luzell Wilde of Centerville was again 60 to 64 years of age. It's the second runner up in the 1980 Men's Golden straight year he has finished second in the ' Masters National Singles Racquetball national amateur tournament. Championships in the division for players : ity GARY R. BLODGETT (LNTERVILLE Placing Second in the national championships cham-pionships is getting to he "old .nat" for Luzell D. Wilde of :Centerville. - MR. WILDE once again was runner up in the Men's Golden Masters National Singles Rac-'.iiothall Rac-'.iiothall Championships in the iiO to 64-year-old division. And that's quite an accomplishment! accom-plishment! HE TRAVELED all the way to Coral Gables. Fla., to compete com-pete in the national championships champion-ships last month and returned re-turned wjth his fifth national trophy which is probably ; more than any senior athlete in the Intermountain area. In Fact, Mr. Wilde is believed be-lieved to be the only Utahn .with more than one national championship trophy in racquetball, rac-quetball, for any age group. "SEVERAL HAVE won one : trophy, but I don't know of any : who have more than one." he : said. "To win a national trophy tro-phy you must place in the top four of your division in the na-: na-: : lioiuil tournament. : -: Mr. Wilde has five national plaques for second place finishes in the 60-64 ace bracket brack-et in 1979 and 1980;" a third- place finish in 1978 in the 55 to 60 age bracket; and a trophy for third place in doubles in 1977 and for third place in singles sing-les the same year. THAT AMOUNTS to five national trophies in five national na-tional tournaments. He's never nev-er failed to finish in the top four in national competition. This year, Mr. Wilde was defeated in the championship match by Fred Vetter from Wisconsin. "I'VE NEVER played him in national competition before but he has a good reputation and is an excellent player," said Mr. Wilde. "I had to battle bat-tle back to make a game of it in the first round (losing 21-19) but he was just too much for me in the second and final game. But Mr. Wilde quickly added: " I SHOULD have beaten him. I just let myself get too far behind and he's a tough competitor. com-petitor. He won the national title five years ago for the 55-60 age division." Mr. Wilde explained that this was the 12th national amateur racquetball tournament, tourna-ment, although the name of the association has been changed from Intermountain Racquet ball Association (IRA) to the American Amateur Racquetball Racquet-ball Association ((ARA). HE WAS the only Utahn among the 450 participants in the recent national tournament. tourna-ment. Several states and foreign fore-ign countries were represented in the tourney. Lanky and "fit as a fiddle" Mr. Wilde spends a lot of time on the racquetball court. He practices several hours a week and competes in at least two tournaments a month. During one stretch this year, he competed com-peted in six tournaments in eight weeks. HE WON hree Masters Tournaments and placed third in three, others in the 45 and over division where the competitors com-petitors were several years younger. Mr. Wilde didn't start playing play-ing racquetball until about ten or 12 years ago but says he is "at least twice as good as a player today than five years ago. "BUT OLD age and physical and mental fatigue are catching up. It probably won't be too many years until I will have to leave the national and international interna-tional competition to the younger youn-ger players." But you would never guess it to look at him. |