By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural swept the doubles championships in Thursday's city boys tennis tournament at Kossover Tennis Center to lead the Junor Blues to a third straight city team title.
Washburn Rural tennis swept the doubles titles on the way to its third straight city team title Thursday at Kossover Tennis Center. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural seniors Cale Deutscher and Dylan Willingham captured the No. 1 doubles title with an 8-3 win over Topeka West's Collin McGee and Zander Rice while Junior Blues seniors Ben Tryhus and Kieffer O'Connor repeated as the No. 2 doubles champs with an 8-3 decision in the final as Rural captured the team championship by a 30-27 margin over Seaman.
Cair Paravel Latin swept the singles titles, with senior Drew Fay topping 2025 champion Tres Lassiter of Topeka High in the No. 1 final and freshman Jonah Arnold capturing the No. 2 crown in his first city meet.
Deutscher and Willingham's title came after a tiebreaker loss to Cair Paravel in the 2025 final.
Washburn Rural seniors Cale Deutscher (left) and Dylan Willingham won the city title in No. 1 doubles Thursday to lead the Junior Blues to their third straight city team title. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I think we just put in the work in the offseason and it just helped us to push through this year,'' Deutscher said about Thursday's win. "We played good tennis today.''
"Being a senior, you want to end it off on the right foot and we did it,'' Willingham said. "I think we've got some good momentum going forward and that's good because we're going into league and regionals and state.''
The Junior Blues also got a third-place finish in No. 1 singles from Greyson Jones and a runnerup finish in No. 2 singles from Jaxon Whitehead to outdistance Seaman, which posted four top-four finishes, including a second-place showing in No. 2 doubles.
Thursday's Rural title was a tuneup for next Monday's Centennial League tournament, followed by Class 6A regional and state meets.
"I think the team's definitely doing good,'' Deutscher said. "We put in a lot of work in practice every day and a lot of us stay after, too, after our regular time. We've all been coming together really well.''
Cair Paravel senior Drew Fay won the city title in No. 1 singles Thursday after winning the No. 1 doubles championship as a junior. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Fay captured his second straight city championship, with an interesting twist.
Fay teamed with Eric Buchenau to win the No. 1 city doubles title as a junior on the way to a runnerup Class 3A-1A state finish before switching back to singles this spring and earning the No. 1 singles crown with an 8-3 win over High standout Lassiter.
Fay said he got the day off to a somewhat slow start in the quarterfinals before picking up steam as the day went on.
"It was honestly my fault,'' said Fay, who has played 13 matches over the past three days. "I didn't warm up before this so I was slowly getting better as it went on.''
Fay admitted that going from doubles back to singles did take some time.
"Especially over the summer it took awhile to even remember how to play singles,'' Fay said. "It was like re-learning almost, so it's been kind of tough, but I feel like I've gotten back to it now.
"I think I've been progressing all season, so hopefully I hit my climax when state comes around and just keep improving.''
CITY BOYS TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Kossover Tennis Center
Team scores
Washburn Rural 30, Seaman 27, Cair Paravel Latin 22, Topeka West 20, Topeka High 18, Hayden 13, Shawnee Heights 10, Highland Park 9.
Individual results
No. 1 Singles
Championship -- Fay, Cair Paravel, def. Lassiter, Topeka High, 8-3.
Third -- Jones, Washburn Rural, def. Dutton, Seaman, 8-1.
Fifth -- Reyes, Highland Park, def. Gore, Topeka West, 8-2.
No. 2 Singles
Championship -- Arnold, Cair Paravel, def. Whitehead, Washburn Rural, 8-3.
Third -- Myrick, Seaman, def. Hitch, Topeka West, 8-0.
Fifth -- Cruz, Hayden, def. Tessmer, Highland Park, 8-6.
No. 1 Doubles
Championship -- Deutscher/Willingham, Washburn Rural, def. McGee/Rice, Topeka West, 8-3.
Third -- Schneider/Stewart, Seaman, def. Arriaga/Sink, Topeka High, 8-3.
Fifth -- Lindecrantz/Ward, Shawnee Heights, def. Luke/Reynoldson, Hayden, 8-3.
No. 2 Doubles
Championship -- Tryhus/O'Connor, Washburn Rural, def. Hopeck/Sampson, Seaman, 8-3.
Third -- Bowers/Davidson, Topeka West, def. Hageman/Jones, Topeka High, 8-5.
Fifth -- Allphin/Luke, Hayden, def. Dittman/Wylie, Shawnee Heights, 8-5.
