Memorial Team Tennis Ranks No. 1

Memorial High’s team tennis players have advanced for the fourth year in a row to the Class 5A State Team Tennis Tournament. The team is also ranked first among Texas high schools for 5A tournament action this weekend.

The state semifinals will begin at 1 p.m. Friday at the Texas A&M University Tennis Center in College Station. The state championship match will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Memorial High, now 17-0, will play Plano West High with a 23-2 record. Defending state champs New Braunfels High (18-1) will begin semifinals play against El Paso’s Coronado High with a 16-1 record. Memorial Coach Bud Booth notes that the team has been undefeated district champions for the past eight years. The team has a district record of 73-0, and it was regional champion for four of those years – 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

It was state semifinalist in 2009, and state finalist in 2010 and 2011. At the recent Class 5A-Region III Tournament held in Deer Park, the team “quadrupled,” or never lost a match, beating Baytown Sterling 19-0 in the first round, Bellaire 10-0 in the quarterfinals, Clear Lake 10-0 in the semifinals, and Seven Lakes 10-0 in finals. At state, the Mustangs were runners-up to New Braunfels High for the past two years. Memorial Coach Bud Booth told the Houston Chronicle’s Jeff Jenkins that the team is excited to be state finalists once again.

“We’re excited to be going again,” he said. “I expect New Braunfels to win their match. “Hopefully, we’ll take care of business against Plano West and get another shot at them.” “I feel like we’ve continued to improve. We need to, considering the high caliber of competition we’ll see at state,” the coach also said.

This year’s team tennis roster includes the following students:

• 12th Grade – Margot Cordova, Katie Davis, Paulina Lanzagorta, Sophie Macicek, Nava Nowamooz, Brittany Ramesh, Kaitlyn Smith, Juan fidalgo, Russell Frank, William Jou, Thomas Pecor, Sebastian Perez, Grant Riechmann ,Christian Vieira, Nick Vieira, Mary Beth Schatzman
• 11th Grade –Anna Nguyen, Nousha Nowamooz, Melissa Putterman, Courtney Wright, Neik Khansari, Rod Khansari, Ciro Lampasas, Austin Marks, James Whitehead, Thomas Whitehead
• 10th Grade – Libby Bender, Meredith Hughes, Miranda Ruzinsky, Tadhg Collins, Sam Giammalva, Parker Siller
• 9th Grade – Candice Wright, Angela Zhang ,Dane Esses, Max Palmer, Quashi Phillips Cross Country Highlights Stratford High’s boys cross country team won the District 22-4A Cross Country Championships held at George Bush Park recently.

The Spartans finished with 23 points overall, as sophomore Austin Richard finished first in the 5,000-meter race in 16:37:59, and junior Brian Quinlan finished second in 16:58:22. Northbrook High was second with 63 points, and Spring Woods High was third with 77 points. Behind the three SBISD high schools were Fort Bend Ridge Point, Tomball Memorial, Tomball, Fort Bend Marshall and Fort Bend Willowridge. Stratford High’s girls team is the district leader, too. The girls won the district crown with 47 points.

A standout was sophomore Shelby Kallus who placed fourth in 21:43:59 and junior Clementine Berranger who was ninth with a time of 22:45:98. Northbrook High was third overall with 75 points; Spring Woods High placed fifth with 89 points. In the Top 10 field were Northbrook sophomore Idelia Perez, who placed third with a time of 21:23:89, and Spring Woods junior Lilly Mendoza, seventh at 22:41:55. The Class 4A-Region III Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday at Atascocita.