BYU Men's Racquetball Wins First National Championship

BYU's men's racquetball team just made history, winning their first national championship after decades of trying.

The Cougars topped the USA Racquetball Intercollegiate National Championships in Minneapolis from March 26-29, edging out Texas A&M by a razor-thin margin of 1,210 to 1,191 points. The difference came down to the final day of competition.

Head coach Paul Snyder, who has guided the program since 2007, credits the win to something simple but powerful: depth. "Our depth was unparalleled, and none of the other schools came close," he said.

The tournament format pits each team's top six players against each other in singles and doubles matches. Every point counts toward the final total, and BYU's strength across all positions proved decisive.

On the final Saturday, BYU won six tiebreaker matches. "Any one of those matches would have flipped it the other direction," Snyder said.

Senior Garren Craig provided one of the tournament's most thrilling moments. After dropping the first game of his singles semifinal against a Texas A&M opponent, he found himself down 7-10 in the tiebreaker, one point from elimination.

Then his teammates started cheering. "It totally changed my attitude, and I felt more like myself," Craig said. He rattled off four straight points to win the match.

Craig had returned for one final season because last year felt unfinished. When the announcer skipped BYU for third place, then second place, the realization hit. "I was emotional at that point," he said. "It was the peak of my racquetball career for sure."

Why This Inspires

What makes this championship special isn't just the victory. It's how they won it together.

Racquetball is typically an individual sport, but this team made it collective. Players didn't care which lineup spot they filled. The athlete in the sixth position could have played first on any other team, but he showed up without complaint.

"Wherever you ended up, you would do your part, and everyone stepped up," Craig said.

Snyder keeps coaching for moments like these. "I love working with these student athletes," he said. "I would not show up at 6 a.m. anywhere else for anyone else."

The three-day tournament demanded constant focus, with players either competing, recovering, or cheering for teammates. Some days they realized they hadn't been outside in 12 hours.

Snyder's advice kept them grounded: "We're not trying to win a championship right here, we're trying to win the next point."

BYU's lower lineup spots sealed the victory, with positions four, five, and six winning every single match. That depth, combined with mental toughness in crucial moments, created championship magic.

After years of coming close, BYU racquetball finally has the title they've been chasing, built on teamwork that transformed individual athletes into something greater.