Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — The Tennis Center at Steamboat Springs plays host to nearly 150 of the Intermountain Region's top players as the Senior Sectional Championships gets underway today.

For the seventh time, the Tennis Center will open its doors and courts to the top adult players in the six-state region of Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Nevada and Wyoming.

Males and females players in eight age divisions ranging from 35 to 70 and older will compete in singles, doubles and mixed doubles during the four-day tournament. All will be competing for an intermountain championship.

Twenty-two locals players are scheduled to take part in this year's Intermountain Senior Sectional Championship: Ann Bradley, Jo Geier, Barb Campbell, Scott Campbell, Paul Hughes, Don Lathrop, Peter Patten, Galen Redindo, Fred Reynolds, Karen Riggio, Barbara Ross, Roger Ross, Dave Schaller, Nick Schoewe, Charles Schultz, Barb Siek, Kathi Skytta, Jim Swiggart, Dick Tonneson, Don Toy, Ed Trousil and Dick Wright.

Swiggart won an Intermountain Championship last season in the Men's 50 Singles.

He and partner Theo Mandel of Boulder won the Men's 50 Doubles as well.

The tournament will be held on both the hard and clay courts. All regular-round draws will be regular scoring -- two of three six-game sets with 12-point tiebreakers at six games.

This weekend's Intermountain Championship is the second-largest event the Tennis Center hosts, Swiggart, the Tennis Center's director, said. The largest is August's National Tennis Rating Program Tournament, which groups players based on level, not age.

With the busy summer weekend in Steamboat Springs, Swiggart said participants will need to pick up a parking pass at the tournament desk or at the gate to enable them to park in the lot to the immediate South of the tennis courts on Friday.

The Tennis Center lot will be closed to Triple Crown participants and Mustang rally-goers on Friday.

The tournament is free to the public, and anyone interested in seeing some of the Intermountain Region's top adult players is encouraged to attend.