Tennis, track-field top season finishes
Track 2nd-, 3rd-place at state
Trevor Coggin, Farragut, second in state Thursday, May 25, in Division I-AA boys 1600-meter run; FHS boys 4 X 800 relay, second; Maddie Archdale, Hardin Valley Academy, second in girls 800; and McKale Hayes, HVA, third in boys 300 hurdles.
Maggie Frana, Knoxville Catholic, second in Division II-AA girls discus; Jazzlyn Garmer and twin Calysta Garmer, Webb School, second and third, respectively, in 800; KCHS girls, second in 4 X 200 relay and third in 4 X 400; Elly Jones, Catholic, second in 200; and Michael Conley, Webb, third in boys long jump.
Antiya McAlister, CAK, second in Division II-A girls 100 dash and second in 200 dash; Maddie Braden, CAK, third in 400 run; Lilyana Helton, Concord Christian School, third in pole vault; Austin Delp, CAK, third in boys shot put; and Joshua Cross, CAK, third in 1600.
HVA tennis dominance
Completing a school record 19-match winning streak while finishing undefeated in District 4-AA, the Hardin Valley Academy boys tennis team won the District 4-AA team championship match versus Farragut in dramatic come-from-behind fashion before going one step further.
“Down 0-3, we won 5-4 in a great come-from-behind win,” said HVA head coach Seth Rayman, the longest-serving boys varsity sports head coach in any school sport who dates back to the program’s first season in 2009. Tied 4-4, “the final match was doubles, with Garrett Anderson/Billy Bennett down 4-6 and love-30 before winning 9-7.”
The Hawks captured the Region 2-AA team title by beating Knoxville West 4-1 before losing in sectional play to eventual state No. 2 Science Hill.
Individually, “Ryan Leckrone won District 4-AA Boys Singles championship … (and) also won the Region 2-AA Singles title,” Rayman said, earning the sophomore a trip to Murfreesboro for the Division 1-AA state tournament.
Farragut tennis highlights
Though the Farragut boys tennis team started with a 1-3 record, a 6-3 victory against William Blount started a 10-match win streak — but that was ended in the tough 5-A loss to HVA for the District 4-AA tourney championship.
“Next year we will be in a rebuilding season, as we lost three of our top six players that won several matches,” FHS head coach Gordon Cassity said.
“Will Patterson (No. 2 singles) will move to Florida, No. 3 (singles) Robin Klaffke is an exchange student and No. 4/5 Josh Tesar graduated.”
However, “I will have five players with a lot of match play: Benji Cho, Leyton Lu, Derek Diaz, Parker Fitzergald and Nick Yan, along with three freshman that played several matches this year,” he added.
The FHS girls, on the other hand, “were solid from the start of the season and several players improved with match play,” Cassity said about the team’s final 15-2 record. “In fact, the girls have not lost a district or regional match in the past two years and won both the district and region titles the past two years.
“I did loose two girls that played a very important part of the wins the past two years,” he added. “Bekah Graham played (No.) 2-4 singles and several matches at No. 1 doubles. Alyssa Thomas played (No.) 5-6 singles as well as (No.) 2-3 doubles. She signed to play for LMU.”
Among five girls returning next year is rising senior Riley Cassity, two-time Class AA state singles champ — and the coach’s granddaughter — as well as Michelle Lin, Iris Ye, Isha Patel and Sophia Chen,
“I have two other girls with a lot of match play: Ananya Suresh and Shelby Smith, and a few freshman that played several matches this year.”
