Aditya Viswanathan, front left, and Michael Witkowski, front right, are the first Los Alamos boys doubles team to win back-to-back individual state tennis titles—and the first in program history to win the title twice, following their May 7 victory, pose with their coaches, from left, Travis Gibson, Tim Khazratkulov, and Hari Viswanathan. Photo by Gowri Srinivasan
By TRAVIS GIBSON
LAHS/LAMS Tennis Coach
Aditya Viswanathan and Michael Witkowski made Los Alamos tennis history Thursday, May 7, capturing their second straight Class 4A boys doubles state championship at the Jerry Cline Tennis Complex in Albuquerque.
The Topper pair defeated Albuquerque Academy’s Cole Hedges and Saharsh Cheppalli 6-4, 6-2 in the championship match, becoming the first Los Alamos boys doubles team to win back-to-back individual state tennis titles—and the first in program history to win the title twice.
In a tennis tradition stretching back more than 100 years, that achievement puts Viswanathan and Witkowski in rare company. Los Alamos has produced state doubles champions before, but never before had a boys team returned the following season and climbed all the way back to the top.
The title match against Academy was impressive, but the defining moment of the tournament may have come earlier in the day. In the semifinals, Viswanathan and Witkowski faced Santa Fe Prep’s Noah Friedland and Holden Hirsch, the same team that had handed them a loss in the District 2-4A final the previous weekend.
That district loss dropped the Toppers to the No. 3 seed at state, but it also gave them the adjustments they needed. “We learned a ton from that,” Viswanathan said after the tournament, noting that the pair had become too predictable in their patterns.
The rematch looked very different. Viswanathan and Witkowski controlled the semifinal from the start, winning 6-1, 6-1 to earn their place in the finals. Witkowski said the adjustments were not drastic, but they mattered—different serve placement, better variation on volleys and smarter approaches that kept opponents off balance. From there, the Toppers carried the momentum into the final against Academy and finished the job in straight sets.
For Witkowski, a senior, the championship closed out an outstanding individual state career. After the match, he credited the steady support around the program, saying the dedication of the coaches “was everything.” Viswanathan, a junior, now owns two state doubles titles and will have a chance next season to pursue a third.
The Toppers had another major highlight in eighth grader Luke Gibson, who made a deep run in the boys singles draw. Gibson, the District 2-4A singles champion, advanced all the way to the state semifinals before falling to Albuquerque Academy’s Rumi Figueroa, 6-2, 6-2. He then dropped the third-place match to another Academy player, finishing fourth in a strong field. Gibson’s semifinal appearance was especially notable given that he is an 8th grader. Competing against older and more experienced players, he showed poise and toughness throughout the tournament and gave Los Alamos another reason to be excited about the future of the boys’ program.
That future looks even brighter because of the depth behind the championship run. Levi Gibson, Cullen McLean, and the doubles team of Zach Gibson and Logan Swickley all advanced to the second round at state. On the girls side, Julia Robel and Lucia Rudin helped anchor the Lady Topper effort, advancing to the second round and giving Los Alamos another solid performance at the individual state tournament.
With many more years of high school tennis ahead of them, their success at this level shows that the Toppers are not only celebrating a historic championship season but also building toward several promising seasons to come.