TWO of Guernsey’s Island Games gold medal-winning team have been making headlines in the United States.
Dom McLuskey has just completed his first year at Tyler Junior College in Texas and ended the season ranked number three nationally in junior colleges.
Meanwhile Rob West (pictured) has helped Cleveland State University to get into the top tennis college competition in the USA for the first time in its history. The 21-year-old is a tennis scholar at the Ohio institution.
And he was celebrating with his team when they got the better of institutions such as the University of Illinois, Chicago, and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, to win their conference, the Horizon League.
It also meant that they booked themselves into the NCAA National Championships Division One.
‘It’s pretty sweet,’ said West about the success.
‘Cleveland State has been around since the 1930s and it’s the first time we’ve won it. It’s all come together this year and everyone has been working hard towards it.’
In the first round of the nationals they have been drawn against Ohio State University, which is the number two-ranked team in the United States.
Its top three players are seeded in the top 25 in the country as well.
West and his teammates face them on Saturday.
‘They are an awesome side,’ said West.
McLuskey has also had a season to remember.
The 18-year-old was the third highest seeded player in April’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings for national junior colleges.
With McLuskey leading the way at number one, Tyler finished runners-up in the national junior colleges’ league, with 16 wins and two losses.
This semester, McLuskey had a record of 15 victories and just one defeat.
The Sarnian will now play at the National Junior College Championship in Plano, Texas, next week.
He will also be seeded number two in the doubles at the championships with Russian partner Roman Petrunili, with whom he has joined up in the last few months.
After a recent match with Scottsdale College, Arizona, the opposing coach, Coach Peterson, said about Guernsey’s top seed: ‘McLuskey has a big game. It’s a big serve coming at you and he hits a big forehand. He’s better at defending with his backhand, that’s why his level is rising, and he can even finish around the net a little bit.’
West will spend the summer coaching in the US and then complete his final year at Cleveland while McLuskey hopes to move to a first-division senior college in California.
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