by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Lauryn Snipes and Avery Rusk were Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. III and IV Girls Tennis Champions in a tournament held in Buhler in the No. 2 doubles division Monday afternoon.

Snipes/Rusk overpowered seven other opponents to become tournament champions. They beat the tournament’s top seed Myers/Bruce of McPherson 7-6 (5), 6-4 to win the crown.

Wellington finished fourth as a team with 46 points, one point shy of third place. Buhler had 45. Wichita Collegiate won the event with 63 points, followed by McPherson with 55. Winfield had 33, Circle 21, El Dorado 12, and Augusta 3.

“You won’t see a more competitive league tournament for schools our size in the state,” said Brian Aufdengarten, Wellington head girls tennis coach. “We finished sixth in this same tournament last season.”

In other Wellington results:

MeKenna Adams and Kylie Aufdengarten placed third in No. 1 doubles. Lexi Saffell finished fourth in No. 2 singles; and Abby Lowe placed fifth in No. 1 singles.

Wellington will now prepare for the Class 4A Regional in Pratt which starts Friday. The Crusaders will be playing Colby, Hays, Larned, Maize South, Pratt, Scott City, Ulysses, Wichita Collegiate and Wichita Trinity.

On Monday, Snipes/Rusk were the big winners after being seated third.

“They had a heck of a day winning the championship,” Aufdengarten said. “They played great. We have not won a league championship since 2009.”

The Wellington duo beat Edwards/Shum of El Dorado 7-5, 6-2 in the first round. They then beat Cody/Schlatter of Collegiate 6-2, 6-3. That put them in the championship where they would beat Myers/Bruce of McPherson.

In the other contests:

Adams/Aufdengarten were seeded third and finished third. They beat Pearce/Waltemath of Circle 6-1, 6-1. That pitted them against Lair/Ruffin of Wichita Collegiate and they lost 6-2, 6-0. For third place, Adams/Aufdengarten won 6-0, 6-1 over Martin/White of Buhler.

Saffell placed fourth after beating Carlson of McPherson 6-4, 1-6, 15-13; losing to Geoffrey of Wichita Collegiate, 6-1, 6-1; before losing to Wicks 7-6 (2), 6-4.

“Lexi ran out of gas in the end in her final match, but played very well,” Aufdengarten said.

Lowe went 2-1 on the day, good for fifth place. She was the sixth seed and was beat by Hammer of Winfield 6-2, 6-1; defeated Werner of Augusta 9-1; and won by default for fifth place.

“Her second match was pretty impressive, winning 9-1 over a decent Augusta player,” Aufdengarten said.

See full results of the tennis tournament here.

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