Three-peat can't be beat

The Bulls did it twice in the 90s, and more recently, IU junior Alex Zamudio pulled off the feat. \nZamudio attained the highly coveted three-peat by winning this month's intramural racquetball championship for the third straight year. Zamudio defeated doubles racquetball champion senior Dan Moore in the finals.\n"He's very good, best player I've played at IU," Moore said. "He hits his shots very well."\nWinning three straight championships is an impressive accomplishment, but Zamudio doesn't plan on stopping there.\n"I'm going for the four-peat," Zamudio said of his plans for next year.\n"I've been watching him -- he's a great player and has good sportsmanship," Assistant Director of Intramurals Satoshi Kido said. "This is the first three-peat I've heard of (in intramurals)."\nZamudio was born in the United States but grew up in Mexico, where he lived until seventh grade when he and his family moved to Logansport, Ind., his mom's former home. \n"(I) came up for education and to learn English," Zamudio said.\nIn high school, Zamudio enjoyed and excelled at tennis, golf and bowling. It was his dad and brother who introduced him to racquetball six years ago. Zamudio was reluctant at first but found he really enjoyed it.\n"It was pretty cool, and I just kept playing," Zamudio said.\nAlthough Zamudio's intramural victories are notable, they are far from surprising. In the September/October issue of Racquetball Magazine, Zamudio was ranked the third best elite player in the country. Also, Zamudio is the reigning regional racquetball champion the past two years.\n"I fell just short at nationals," Zamudio said.\nIn two weeks, he will enter his first professional racquetball tournament but will hold off turning professional and playing full-time until after graduation. Zamudio is an informatics major, and playing tournaments throughout the week would take too much time away from his studies. \nEven though he plans on becoming a professional racquetball player, a college education is important -- especially since only about the top three professionals can support themselves by only playing racquetball.\n"I'm not full time yet -- my mother won't let me," Zamudio explained. "I'm pretty good academically. I'm going to the Founders Day Ceremony this weekend (for academic achievement)." \nZamudio is excited about restarting the racquetball club at IU, as well as putting together a traveling team. He also encourages all those interested to show up to the Student Recreational Sports Center for racquetball challenge nights held from 5 to 7 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays.\n"Anybody can just show up and challenge and play until they get beat," Zamudio said.\n-- Contact staff writer Ryan Want at rwant@indiana.edu.