With spring in full bloom, Wood River High School tennis coach Vicki Johnston has a lot on her plate.
Her baby is due any day, the new arrival to the Johnston family of Hailey arriving right after the State 4A tennis tournament this Friday and Saturday, May 18-19 in Caldwell.
The second-year Wolverine head coach has dealt with the recent suspension of four varsity players that probably cost Wood River another second-place finish in the Great Basin Conference tennis tournament.
Plus, Johnston and her assistant coach Marcia Grabow organized this year's conference tournament last Wednesday and Thursday for 96 players at Sun Valley Tennis Club.
Whew!
Johnston, fortunately, is blessed with the kind of positive attitude and optimism that trickles down to all her charges in the extremely successful Wood River tennis program, making its 32nd trip to the Idaho High School Activities Association state tennis tourney this weekend.
So she was delighted with Wood River's performance in last week's conference tournament, which qualified its top five finishers in each of the five classes to the state meet.
The Wolverines walked away with one conference championship, in mixed doubles, and also added a runner-up finish in girls' doubles. They ended up qualifying seven of their 16 district entries for the upcoming state tennis tourney.
By the way, Wood River's seven state qualifiers were one better than the six state qualifiers for conference team champion Century of Pocatello. The D'backs amassed 68 of their 92 points in singles to capture their second straight Great Basin tournament title and fourth in six years.
Century's 92 points were 16 better than runner-up Pocatello (57 of its 76 points in doubles, and a conference-best 11 state qualifiers). Wood River (61 points) finished fourth behind Burley (65 points, 8 to state).
There were only two repeat conference champs Thursday and one came from Wood River. Seniors Cory Rutkowski and Whitney DeBree earned 20 of Wood River's 61 team points with three straight set wins including a 6-4, 6-1 success over a Century pair in the final.
Rutkowski and DeBree have enjoyed an outstanding 2007 season and will try to give Wood River its first state tennis winner since 2004 in Caldwell. The last time a Hailey mixed doubles team won state was four years ago, Whitney's older sister Hadley DeBree doing it with Dixon Mooseau.
Playing together at state for the first time last May, Rutkowski and DeBree won four of their five matches for third place—losing only in split sets to the eventual mixed doubles winners from Bishop Kelly.
Century's Daniel Spicer defended his Great Basin boys' singles title Thursday in a tough split-set decision over teammate Tom Delehanty, but young Hailey singles entrants R.J. Forgeon and Alex Henning did well for themselves.
So did, in girls' singles, Wood River sophomore Tanya Greenwood. She won four matches in straight sets and captured fourth place for a state berth, her first for Hailey.
Besides Rutkowski and DeBree, the other returning state player for Wood River this weekend is senior Kira Gardner. She partnered with junior Tessa Barrow to capture second place for 16 points in Great Basin girls' doubles.
A nice surprise for coaches Johnston and Grabow was the ninth-grade boys' doubles team of Paul Davis and Brendan Freund. They won four matches at conference and placed fifth for their first state tennis tournament trip.
Looking ahead to the State 4A team race, the Great Basin isn't likely to challenge front-runners Bishop Kelly of Boise and Hillcrest of Idaho Falls. The two schools tied for the state championship last May with 74 points apiece and will probably duke it out again Saturday in Caldwell.
Bishop Kelly, winner of seven state tennis titles in nine years and an Idaho-best 16 state banners overall, swept singles plus boys' and girls' doubles at its Third District tournament and will send 15 to state.
Meanwhile, the Hillcrest Knights pounded runner-up Blackfoot 121-44 for the Sixth District title Thursday and will send 18 to state including last year's state girls' singles queen Brooke Sailer, a junior.
Results follow from last week's Great Basin Conference tournament. For a complete tournament summary check today's Express Web site:
Final team totals
1—Century 92 points (6 to state). 2—Pocatello 76 (11 to state). 3—Burley 65 (8 to state). 4—Wood River 61 (7 to state). 5—Jerome 42 (4 to state). 6—Minico 22 (4 to state)
Points by category
Century (92)—36 BS. 32 GS, 3 BD, 4 GD, 17 MD.
Pocatello (76)—14 BS, 5 GS, 19 BD, 29 GD, 9 MD.
Wood River (61)—4 BS, 11 GS, 7 BD, 16 GD, 23 MD.
Points by singles/doubles
Wood River (21-18 all matches)—15 points singles (8-8), 46 points doubles (13-10)
Boys singles
Final results (top 5 to state)
1—Daniel Spicer (Century senior, also 2006 BS champion)
2—Tom Delehanty (Century junior, last year's BS runner-up)
3—Danny Jackson (Jerome senior)
4—Tom Chambers (Pocatello junior)
5—Jordan Steele (Pocatello junior)
Championship—Daniel Spicer (Century) 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 6-3 over Tom Delehanty (Century)
Third place—Danny Jackson (Jerome) 6-2, 6-1 over Tom Chambers (Pocatello)
Fifth place—Jordan Steele (Pocatello) 6-1, 6-4 over Logan Nielson (Burley)
Girls singles
Final results (top 5 to state)
1—Liz Anderson (Century sophomore)
2—Dorothy Lopez (Jerome senior)
3—Kate Mills (Century sophomore)
4—Tanya Greenwood (WR sophomore)
5—Emily Cundick (Pocatello sophomore)
Championship—Liz Anderson (Century) 6-1, 6-0 over Dorothy Lopez (Jerome)
Third place—Kate Mills (Century) 6-4, 6-1 over Tanya Greenwood (WR)
Fifth place—Emily Cundick (Pocatello) 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 over Breanna Gilbert (Jerome freshman)
Boys doubles
Final results (top 5 to state)
1—Dax Greener-Kolby Carpenter (Burley seniors)
2—Travis Gilbert-Kirk Theimann (Pocatello senior-junior)
3—Jared Gardner-Dan Lasike (Jerome senior-junior)
4—Ben Child-Sheldon Zimmerman (Minico juniors)
5—Paul Davis-Brendan Freund (WR freshmen)
Championship—Dax Greener-Kolby Carpenter (Burley) 6-1, 6-1 over Travis Gilbert-Kirk Theimann (Pocatello)
Third place—Jared Gardner-Dan Lasike (Jerome) 6-1, 6-2 over Ben Child-Sheldon Zimmerman (Minico)
Fifth place—Paul Davis-Brendan Freund (WR) 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 over Chris Chapman-David Sibrian (WR seniors)
Girls doubles
Final results (top 5 to state)
1—Brittany Goodell-Madeline Woodhouse (Pocatello senior-junior)
2—Kira Gardner-Tessa Barrow (WR senior-junior)
3—Kim Ashton-Alex Haynie (Burley juniors)
4—Kaetlin Clark-Holly Hancock (Pocatello juniors)
5—Chelsi Funk-Rachel Yee (Burley junior-senior)
Championship—Brittany Goodell-Madeline Woodhouse (Pocatello) 6-0, 6-4 over Kira Gardner-Tessa Barrow (WR)
Third place—Kim Ashton-Alex Haynie (Burley) 6-4, 6-4 over Kaetlin Clark-Holly Hancock (Pocatello)
Fifth place—Chelsi Funk-Rachel Yee (Burley junior-senior) 6-1, 7-6 over Ashley Laurence-Kelsey Reiland (Century)
Mixed doubles
Final results (top 5 to state)
1—Cory Rutkowski-Whitney DeBree (WR seniors, last year's MD district champions)
2—Chester Kener-Krystle Maples (Century junior-senior)
3—Renan Sammarco-Amanda Vanderver (Burley seniors)
4—James Collett-Jill Burnham (Pocatello junior-senior)
5—J.P. Delis-Karee Jurgensmeier (Minico senior-junior)
Championship—Cory Rutkowski-Whitney DeBree (WR) 6-4, 6-1 over Chester Kener-Krystle Maples (Century)
Third place—Renan Sammarco-Amanda Vanderver (Burley) 6-1, 6-2 over James Collett-Jill Burnham (Pocatello)
Fifth place—J.P. Delis-Karee Jurgensmeier (Minico senior-junior) 6-4, 6-1 over Maria Elizondo-Jordan Hammond (Burley senior-junior)
Winning the Great Basin Conference mixed doubles title for the second straight year last Thursday in Sun Valley were Wood River High School seniors, from left, Cory Rutkowski and Whitney DeBree. Photo by David N. Seelig
