Abdel Khalek named NESCAC Player of the Year
Ahmed Abdel Khalek ’16 received NESCAC Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors on Feb. 21, 2013. File photo by Michael Bradley/Bates College.
HADLEY, Mass. — Bates first-year student Ahmed Abdel Khalek received both Player and Rookie of the Year honors from the New England Small College Athletic Conference, which announced its NESCAC Men’s Squash All-Conference Team on Wednesday.
Abdel Khalek (Cairo, Egypt) is the first Bates player to claim the Player of the Year honor for himself — Kush Mahan ’10 was named Co-Player of the Year in 2010, the only year a non-Trinity player has ever received the award until today.
Abdel Khalek boasts a 17-1 individual record this season, the only blemish being a 3-1 defeat at the hands of 2012 individual national champion Ali Farag of Harvard. Abdel Khalek went 10-0 on the year against NESCAC opponents, including a 3-2 victory over fellow rookie First Teamer Juan Vargas of No. 1-ranked Trinity. In January, Abdel Khalek won three consecutive matches in straight sets against 2011-12 CSA All-Americans, in Guilherme de Melo of Franklin & Marshall (First Team), Christopher Hanson of Dartmouth (First Team) and Nicholas Sachvie of Cornell (Second Team).
Abdel Khalek leads the Bobcats (13-9) into CSA Men’s Team Nationals this weekend, beginning with the 15th-seeded Bobcats taking on 10th-seeded rival Williams on Friday at 3:30pm at Yale.
2013 NESCAC Men’s Squash All-Conference Team