A young phenom, versatile athletes and a cast of foreign exchange students bring St. Mary Catholic to the boys state tennis tournament
FOX CROSSING – The St. Mary Catholic boys tennis group is very an eclectic forged of figures.
There is a budding phenom who’s battled by way of harm to come to be one particular of the state’s major players, international exchange students who needed a minor coaxing to join the roster, and gamers for whom tennis isn’t their No. 1 sport but have become integral elements of a profitable group.
They all came together this year to do a thing no Zephyrs team has completed in program heritage — advance to the WIAA state crew event.
“It’s actually fascinating. This is all a thing that when I initial begun coaching, it is a perception that I experienced inside of the little ones that we could do a thing like this,” mentor Tate Whitlinger said. “For me, it’s incredibly specific due to the fact the state event is a little something that I went to as a sibling with my sisters, as a participant, as a educating pro quite a few little ones have played there that I’ve coached, and now an precise higher college mentor.”
The Zephyrs are the No. 4 seed and will play top rated-seeded Brookfield Academy in a Division 2 semifinal at 9 a.m. Saturday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium in Madison. The winner will encounter either Catholic Memorial or Aquinas in the championship match at 2 p.m.
St. Mary Catholic highly developed by winning the Kohler sectional May possibly 25 with 43 factors, just just one extra than 2nd-location Xavier.
“We went in there with this silent, humble mind-set which is how we type of do items at St. Mary’s,” Whitlinger mentioned. “I experienced the perception and coach Lizzy (Bergstrom Auth) had the perception that we could do it. We understood some points had to happen for it to take place, and those people factors kind of did and then our guys took care of their section.
“The full working day it was just sort of hoping to continue to be peaceful and retain management of what we could, and which is our aspect of the court. At the conclusion of the working day, we arrived by by one place, so it was a actually awesome practical experience for every person.”
Freshman Wesley Auth plays No. 1 singles for the Zephyrs. He’s played USTA tournaments considering that he was 9 and although he’s dealt with elbow discomfort off and on because 2020, he completed fifth in Division 2 singles Saturday at the particular person point out match.
Playing at the workforce tournament this weekend is a further amount of pleasure for Auth, who has a 24-1 report.
“It means a good deal to me,” said Auth, whose teammates include cousins Grant and Harry Bergstrom. “It’s amazing. To go to sectionals and then do as effectively as we did as a team, specially staying these types of a younger staff, is remarkable.”
It was Auth and his cousins who assisted recruit foreign exchange college students Felipe Gaztelu, Gonzalo Carrasco, Juan Sebastian and Javier Ravina-Amador to the team.
“I was very good close friends with a person of them and the rest of them I’d in no way talked to ahead of, so it was genuinely appealing talking to them and receiving used to them but eventually we turned fantastic mates and we had good chemistry due to the fact of it,” Auth explained. “We ended up in a position to get them to come out and we won our sectional, so it worked out genuinely effectively.”
Grant Bergstrom, whose key activity is soccer, plays No. 1 doubles with Gaztelu. They state-of-the-art to the individual condition match previous 7 days and received two matches. Carrasco, Sebastian and Ravina-Amador spherical out the singles lineup for the Zephyrs.
Senior Ethan Campbell, who will perform football in school, plays No. 2 doubles with Michael Fairweather, who is also a talented basketball participant. Their athleticism arrives in helpful on the tennis courtroom. Freshmen Harry Bergstrom and John Osland participate in No. 3 doubles.
It’s a lineup that located quick achievement on the court, even if it took some time to turn into at ease with each and every other.
“At 1st it was definitely a system because we weren’t speaking appropriate away,” Campbell reported. “I wasn’t seriously acquainted with the international trade college students at first, so that took a minor little bit of time. But rapidly I was able to get to know each and every and every just one of them and right now they are a single of my closest good friends, all of them. So that undoubtedly allows when it arrives to matches and having ready for matches.”
Currently being the initial to characterize St. Mary Catholic at the point out group event is not a little something the Zephyrs are having flippantly.
“My heart’s whole of pleasure and gratitude that we have this option to go down there and display what we have and just the excitement for the whole St. Mary Catholic families and community and faculty method,” Whitlinger explained.
Get hold of Mike Sherry at [email protected]. Abide by him on Twitter @MikeSherry14.
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This posting initially appeared on Appleton Publish-Crescent: St. Mary Catholic boys tennis crew makes initial trip to WIAA point out