Shawn Stokes, left, Sam Crooks, Eli Iramk-Bent, Thomas Chadwick, Isaiah Martin, Martin Naud and Tim Martin. Courtesy photoSPORTS News:
The Topper Boys tennis team began the 2018 season Feb. 9 and 10 with a 2nd place finish in El Paso, Texas. Sixteen teams participated including 10 Texas schools and six New Mexico schools.
This is the best finish the Topper Boys have enjoyed in 8.5 years. Junior Thomas Chadwick finished 3rd in singles with a 4th and 5th finishes from LAHS Boys doubles teams, Martin Naud/Isaiah Martin and Jun Kim/Tim Martin.
The team followed the El Paso Invitational with a strong finish on February 23rd & 24th at the State-Wide invitational. The team finished 2nd behind Farmington High School. The Toppers were lifted by some new comers.
Eli Iramk-Bent and Isaiah Martin won the doubles title to lift the Topper’s team score, while Shawn Stokes and Sam Crooks placed 3rd and 4th in singles in the bottom bracket.
Thomas Chadwick finished 3rd in the top singles bracket with a very competitive field of players. The outstanding player goes to Martin Naud, he won his singles bracket and he and Senior Jun Kim played very well in the top doubles flight.
For the State-Wide event Coaches Lloyd Wilton and Dave Cook challenged the boy’s tennis team as they were without two of their top singles players Donald Poston and Sam Menefee.
Coach Lloyd Wilton stated, “He was proud of the way his team competed and how they showed each other support.”
Coach Eric Martinez is the teams JV coach and fitness coach.
Lloyd said, “Eric’s training plan has kept the boys healthy and he is such an integral part of this team”. The boys played two straight days of tennis. This is the iron man event of tennis and coach Wilton summed this up as, “these young men did not wince, complain or give up.”
The Toppers competed again this weekend at the Belen Team Tournament in Belen.
