Final tennis rankings (boys and girls)
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
The tennis season is over and so too is the speculation about all the rankings. Duncan coach Phil Barnes has passed along to me both the final boys and girls rankings as decided by the Oklahoma Tennis Coaches Association.
Girls
1. Bishop McGuinness: No surprise here. The Irish won their 11th straight title and totally deserve the honor. If this was an AP football/basketball poll, girls would receive all first-place votes.
2. Bishop Kelley: Won three straight titles before McGuinness came along in 5A and denied it. Andrea Lewis and Meredith Burns don’t have to take a back seat to anybody, and it was a joy to watch them play.
3. Duncan: Yep, when I said 5A was top-heavy all season, wasn’t kidding. First three teams are from the class. Melanie Barnes will anchor the crew next season.
4. Heritage Hall: Three and four are tough. Only because I’ve seen Heritage more would I flip ‘em. The 4A champs will have Julie Labarthe back, Carissa Villaflor grew tremendously as a player this season while Sarah Bowen might end up being one of the most athletic players the state has seen.
5. Edmond North: And here is your 6A champ. Rachel Mitcham will return at No. 1 singles and Huskies should be knockin’ on the door again.
6. Jenks
7. Edmond Memorial
8. Broken Arrow
9. Cascia Hall
10. Shawnee
Only change in my rankings would be Chargers at No. 3 and Duncan at No. 4. That’s it, pretty fair assessment of the season by the rankings committee.
Boys
1. Putnam North: 6A was the cream of the crop in the boys and no team was better when it mattered most than David Diefenderfer’s Panthers. Chris Haworth’s goal: back-to-back-to-back undefeated seasons.
2. Union: Almost as dominating as Haworth, No. 2 singles player Trevor Horstmann couldn’t be touched. Add in some great drama in the doubles play, and Union didn’t relinquish its four-year reign without a fight.
3. Bishop Kelley: Cruised to third straight 5A championship. One more year of Cale Hammond means good times for tennis fans and bad news for the rest of 5A.
4. Cascia Hall: Getting to be as dominant as McGuinness girls. Commandos are a well-oiled machine and Chase Tomlins will be going for that rarity of being a four-time champion next season.
5. Edmond Memorial: A sentimental favorite as I feel no team progressed from the beginning of the year to the end like Bulldogs. Randy Mays will still have a lot of weapons at his disposal next season.
6. Edmond North
7. Metro Christian
8. Ada
9. McGuinness
10. Heritage Hall
Based on familiarity again, would switch McGuinness and Ada. Already looking forward to next season as so many teams were so young this season that next year can’t help but provide even more drama.
Speaking of drama, time for the All-City Team. A little more research, but like I said, pretty confident with the selections.
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