The 82nd Annual Boys' State Tennis Tournament begins today and runs through Saturday at Sioux Falls and Brandon. Six singles and three doubles champions will be crowned on Saturday along with an overall team champ.
Sioux Falls Washington is the defending champion but graduated a majority of its lineup. That leaves the door open for several teams.
"It should be a really fun state tournament," said Central coach Trent Kurtz. "Usually, there are one or two teams competing for a title, but this year, four teams have a legitimate shot to win it all."
Kurtz picks Sioux Falls O'Gorman with the best singles player (Tommy Entwistle) and best doubles team (Entwistle and Ben Czarnecki), Sioux Falls Lincoln, Rapid City Stevens and Watertown as favorites. He notes that Stevens has good depth.
"There are a handful of teams and maybe a few more who could contend," said Roncalli coach Jessie Daw. "It should be an interesting tournament."
Neither the Golden Eagles nor the Cavaliers will be aiming for a state title but will look to upset higher rated opponents and learn from that level of competition.
Both teams have just two seniors: Aaron Lorenz and Dayton Wirth for the Golden Eagles and Adam Goetz and Kyle Martin for the Cavaliers.
For Central, Dillon Prissel (11-10 record), Alex Grandbois (11-6) and Jesse Margolies (15-6) sport winning records from four through six singles flights respectively. The number two (Adam Zimmerman and Grandbois at 10-8) and three doubles (Prissel and Margolies at 10-7) teams also have won more matches than they lost.
"Our bottom flights have been our strength. We didn't have much time for challenge matches early in the year," said Kurtz. "When our three through six played among themselves, it went to three sets."
Doubles has been a season long strength for Central although that part of the lineup struggled at the recent Eastern South Dakota Conference Meet.
"We made some big strides in doubles, but had just a little letdown at ESD. Our number one doubles (Lorenz and Joey Crompton) have been in a lot of matches and can beat a lot of teams. Our three doubles should be seeded and our two doubles could maybe get a seed," said Kurtz.
Roncalli's top singles players have been Jacob Gellhaus (9-9) at flight three and Keaton Deiter (5-12) at flight five along with Isaiah Vilhauer at flight six (3-5), a recent addition to the lineup. The doubles team of Adam Goetz and Gellhaus (4-14) and Kyle Martin and Parker Monson (4-6) have played well.
"The experience is really going to be good," said Daw. "Our limited season has had an impact. Everyone is getting better. We've kind of taking our lumps along the way. It's been an up and down process. The up and down has occurred to different players at different times. We knew we wanted to peak this weekend. There's nothing holding us back from being as competitive as we can."
82nd Annual State Boys' Tennis
When: Today through Saturday.
Where: McKennan Park Courts (singles and doubles flights 1 and 2) and Sioux Falls Washington Courts (singles flights 3 and 4 and doubles flight 3) both in Sioux Falls, and Brandon Valley Middle School Courts (singles 5 and 6 today and Friday) in Brandon.
Start times: Today at 9 a.m., Friday at 9 a.m. at Sioux Falls and 10:15 a.m. at Brandon, and Saturday at 9 a.m.
2012 State champions: Sioux Falls Washington.
Teams: 20.
Champions graduated: Singles 1, 4 and 5 along with doubles 2 and 3.
Returning champions: Tommy Entwistle, Sioux Falls O'Gorman, won 2 singles, returns at 1 singles; Nate Ackert, Sioux Falls Washington, won 6 singles, returns at 1 singles; Tanner Heiser, Watertown, won 3 singles, returns at 2 singles. Entwistle returns at 1 doubles with new partner Ben Czarnecki.
Past champions: In today's Scoreboard.
Central girls showed depth
The Aberdeen Central girls' track and field team did not win the Eastern South Dakota Conference Meet last week in Aberdeen with just first place finishes.
Central girls' coach Jim Appl noted that several individuals quietly contributed including senior Larissa Swanson who finished second in the long jump, third in the pole vault and fourth in the 100-meter dash.
"If anyone got us going it was Larissa," said Appl. "Alexis (Clark) struggled in the long jump and Larissa picked her up and got second. She qualified for the 100 finals and got third in the pole vault. All three events were going on at the same time."
Another sprinter senior Jessica Weber ran in three relays that finished second, second and third and was third in the 100 dash. Junior Bridget White won the 300-meter hurdles and picked up a fourth in the 100 hurdles.
The Golden Eagles won their first girls' track and field ESD title since 2003.
Sports writer Deb Smith
Quickly
The 2013 USATF Dakotas Junior Olympics Track & Field Championships will be held at Swisher Field in Aberdeen on June 6-8. The top qualifiers from that meet can advance to the 2013 USATF Region 8 Championships which will also be at Swisher Field on July 4-7. Information and registration forms can be found at aberdeenarearunningclub.com.
Aberdeen Central girls' assistant golf coach Kurt Drube noted that the trees at Hillsview Golf Course in Pierre carry marks from flood waters that covered the course two years ago. The course reopened this season.
Aberdeen Central girls' distance ace Hannah Kastigar waits at the finish line to congratulate runners as they finish the 1,600- and 3,200-meter races. "I feel like everyone deserves to hear, 'Good job,' for running. Those are hard races," she said.