Drew captures girls’ singles, Cutthroats reclaim silver

Lauren Drew looks and acts just like any normal ninth-grade student.

Where 14-year-old Lauren breaks from the pack is on the tennis court. She doesn’t beat herself, which means she wins a lot of matches.

Last weekend, the Community School student did something very unusual.

She won an Idaho Class B girls’ singles state tennis championship—as a freshman. Usually it takes a couple of years to climb the ladder.

Drew won convincingly and became the first Cutthroat girls’ singles state champion since Tory Thornton in 1986. In four match victories, Drew lost just five games. She won 48 games and lost five.

Lauren defeated 1998 state runner-up Ashley Kunz of Bishop Kelly 6-1, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, then polished off Lisa Johnson of Troy 6-1, 6-1 in the semis and Kim Bake of Parma 6-1, 6-0 in the final.

Kunz and Johnson are juniors, and Bake a talented sophomore. But Drew played with the poise of an upperclassman and gave the Cutthroats only their fifth individual state title in 15 years.

Furthermore, Drew’s 20 points in girls’ singles helped the 14-player Cutthroat state contingent into second place in team totals. It was the second time in three years that The Community School has earned the state runner-up trophy.

Success in singles has boosted the Cutthroats of coaches Mark Scribner and Harry Weekes into the upper echelon of Idaho’s Class B schools the past three years.

This year, powerhouse Bishop Kelly of Boise was the only team to exceed the Cutthroats in points.

Bishop Kelly’s 15 players piled up 111 points (84 in doubles) to win the 12th state tennis title in school history—trailing only Capital of Boise (13 state titles) for the all-time Gem State team record.

Sun Valley’s 52-point total included 32 in singles.

Last year, the Cutthroats had 46 points for fourth place overall including 28 in singles. In 1997 when Chancey Martin won boys’ singles as a sophomore, the Cutthroats had 53 points for second (33 singles).

You don’t succeed at state with only one or two players, although fourth-place Homedale (45 points) seems to do just that each spring.

For instance, Cutthroat seniors GiGi Welsh and Lauren Bergdahl gave their team a huge third-place finish in girls’ doubles, good for a pivotal total of 12 points. They won four matches, losing only to state champs Carol Tolsma and Casi Heinzman of Bishop Kelly.

It was the third state appearance for Welsh and Bergdahl. They clicked well after finishing third in district play. They hadn’t enjoyed much previous state success with different partners—Welsh in mixed and Bergdahl in girls.

But the ability of GiGi and Lauren to beat the Parma team of Paige Wong and Lindsey McCormick 6-3, 6-3 in the third-place match meant the difference between second place and third place for the Cutthroats. Parma finished third with 49 points.

In boys’ singles, Lauren Drew’s older brother Ryan Drew added 12 points with a third-place finish, also accomplished as a freshman.

Ryan beat four opponents rather easily and lost only to state champion Andy Livingston, a Bishop Kelly junior, by scores of 6-0, 6-4.

Undoubtedly the Cutthroats would have recorded the best point total in school history if district champions Lindsey Woodcock and Colleen Enright, both juniors, hadn’t encountered some bad luck.

Woodcock suffered food poisoning before her girls’ doubles debut. She and Colleen forfeited. Lindsey came back to help Colleen win a consolation bracket match, but they exited early like they did in their first state trip together in 1997.

One big plus for the Sun Valley squad was the fine performance of senior Mark Drew and junior Mike Englert in boys’ doubles. They won three matches and just fell short of a chance at third place.

Meanwhile, boys’ doubles district champions Karl Englert and Alex McCoy couldn’t get over the Bishop Kelly hump. They lost twice to third-place Mark Castro and Eric Lauer of the state champion Knights.

In all, the Cutthroats posted a 19-12 match record at state.

Also competing were the Cutthroat mixed doubles teams of Linda Baumgardner-Johnny Welsh and Tami Parten-Josh Kantor. Baumgardner substituted for Langely McNeal, who decided to play soccer last weekend instead of competing at the state tennis tournament.

The top four at state:

Girls’ singles: 1—Lauren Drew (CS) 6-1, 6-0 over Kim Bake (Parma). 3—Katie Sanders (WR) 7-5, 6-1 over Jill Butler (Homedale).

Boys’ singles: 1—Andy Livingston (BK) 6-0, 6-3 over Jim Miles (Fruitland). 3—Ryan Drew (CS) 6-0, 6-4 over Luke McCarney (Payette).

Girls’ doubles: 1—Carol Tolsma-Casi Heinzman (BK) 0-6, 6-3, 6-0 over Jaclyn Golus-Danielle Berriochoa (BK). 3—GiGi Welsh-Lauren Bergdahl (CS) 6-3, 6-3 over Paige Wong-Lindsey McCormick (Parma).

Boys’ doubles: 1—Bryant Jones-Jacob Berriochoa (BK) 6-3, 6-3 over Jeff Skeen-Kenny Overton (Homedale). 3—Mark Castro-Eric Lauer (BK) 6-3, 6-1 over Ryan Tucker-Adam Roessler (Kuna).

Mixed doubles: 1—Alex Bingham-Isaac Mendez (Homedale) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 over Tricia Haddock-Joey Padilla (Parma). 3—Mary Maloney-Mario Larracoechea (BK) 6-3, 6-3 over Aprilia Hagglof-Garrett Goldberg (WR).