Wood River High School sophomore #1 boys' singles ace Karl Wilander staged an impressive first-place performance during the hotly competitive Eastern Idaho Tennis Invitational April 16-17 at Sunnyside Park in Idaho Falls.
Taking four match wins against some of the best 4A competition in the state, Wilander captured the boys' singles title 6-0, 6-1 over Breydan Wright of Hillcrest Saturday. Last spring as a Community School freshman, Wilander was third in the State 3A singles.
Wilander's effort was a Wolverine highlight of the two-day meet hosted by Hillcrest High School. Hillcrest is the two time defending 4A tennis champion in both the boys' and girls' categories, with many of its star players back this year.
Coach Vicki Johnston of Wood River said, "The kids were prepared. I was also proud to see how much good sportsmanship we had. It was neat to see what we have to look forward to at the state tennis tournament this year."
Wood River was one of the top teams in the prestigious tournament, helped by the second-place result of #1 girls' doubles Lauren Reutter and Margaret Reutter, and the third-place consolation championship finish of #2 girls' doubles Tory Lakey-Erin Murphy.
In Saturday's championship, the Reutters after three victories finally met their match in undefeated Idaho Falls sophomores Leah Wright and Payton McGriff, who won 6-3, 6-1. Lauren is a senior and Margaret is a sophomore for Hailey in 2010.
Wood River's #1 mixed doubles Morgan Pike, a senior, and junior Jessica Hamilton, had a tough draw. They won a couple of matches Friday to advance in the championship bracket, then ran into the eventual winners—Riley Salmon and Kallie Ball of Hillcrest.
Seniors Salmon and Ball were both state champions last spring, Salmon in boys' doubles and Ball in girls' doubles. Pike was a state champion in boys' doubles in 2008 and the fourth-place state boys' singles player in 2009. And Hamilton is a two time state girls' doubles player.
It was a good match, but Hillcrest prevailed 6-4, 7-5 and went on to the title 6-1, 6-4 over Sarah Erickson and Desmond Miles of Madison. Pike and Hamilton finished up a 2-2 tournament visit in fourth place, a notch above teammates and consolation winners William Eagan-Teagen Palmer.
Placing fifth and sixth in boys' doubles at Idaho Falls were Raleigh Grossbaum and Charlie Grabow, and R.J. Forgeon and Brendan Freund. Wood River sophomore Sloan Storey also had a nice singles' win Friday 6-2, 6-3 over previously unbeaten Gracie Struble of Skyline from Idaho Falls.
The Wolverines hosted Jerome Tuesday in back-to-back league meets in Hailey to make up a March 25 postponement. And Wood River entertains Twin Falls Thursday, April 22 at 3:30 p.m. in Hailey.
TCS tennis wins 9-3 over Hawks
With most of its seniors missing due to other school activities, The Community School 3A varsity tennis team won a 9-3 non-conference match over the 4A Canyon Ridge Riverhawks in Twin Falls last Thursday, April 15.
Hunter Weaver, Tim Kanellitsas and Eric Runkel swept boys' singles for the Cutthroats, while Tom Crosby-Will Brokaw and Colin Waycott-Cassidy Carson captured the two boys' doubles matches.
The Cutthroats, swept in girls' singles at Twin Falls, won both girls' doubles matches with Gabi Perenchio-Morgan Atkinson and Ella Marks-Nellie Brown. The mixed doubles winners from Sun Valley were Zach Lindahl-Taylor Figge and Henry Rickbeil-Paige Riedinger.
