Wellington tennis team finishes 4th at 4A State tourney, losing on another tiebreaker
Jax Cornejo finishes fourth at the Class 4A state tournament.
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The word “tiebreaker” is probably profanity to the 2022 Wellington High School boys tennis team.
Wellington finished fourth as a team, losing the tiebreaker to Topeka Hayden for third place and getting them a team trophy at the Class 4A State Tournament in Winfield Saturday. That’s one week after losing a “tiebreaker” for the regional championship in Wellington.
Crusader junior Jax Cornejo finished fourth in singles, while Wellington seniors Justin Norris and Carson Rademacher finished sixth in doubles. Independence won the state championship with McPherson finishing second. Team point totals for placers were: 1- Independence 38, 2- McPherson 32, 3- Topeka Hayden 24, 4- Wellington 24, 5- Buhler 22, and 6- Winfield 20.
This marked the second consecutive week that Wellington lost the tie-breaker based on rules set by the KSHSAA. Last week, Wellington lost the regional championship to Winfield because it didn’t have as many boys in the top four. Yesterday, the tiebreaker was based on the number of points for those who place. Topeka Hayden had 22 points to Wellington’s 20. So it got the trophy.
“Had we had one more win we would have won third place outright,” said Wellington head boys tennis coach Chad Whaley.
The Crusaders finished about right where they thought they were going to going in. Last year the team missed the third-place trophy by one point.
Jax Cornejo
•Cornejo had a sensational tournament going 2-2 over the two days. He received a first-round bye after winning last week’s Wellington Regional. He opened with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Ayden Johnson of McPherson and then dominated Chase Carnahan of Labette County 6-1, 6-3.
That set him up with Davian Spies of Buhler, the eventual singles state champion on Saturday. He would lose in two: 6-1 and 7-5. That set up the third-place match where he lost to Jaden Fox of McPherson 6-3, 6-0.
Justin Norris
Carson Rademacher
•Norris/Rademacher had a frustrating end to what was a very good weekend for them. In the fifth-place match, they lost to Metzger/Middleton of Circle – a team that they beat in the regional championship, 9-4. The duo led 4-2, before the Circle duo rattled off seven straight sets to win the match.
The duo opened red hot knocking off Biggs/Woleslagel of Buhler 6-0, 6-0. They then lost to Newton/Frederick of Chanute 6-7 (2) 6-4, 7-5. That threw them in the consolation bracket where they would go 2-1: beating Fumagalli/Morris of Parsons 9-0 and Gorman/Luke of Hays 9-3 to reach the consolation finals.
Hunter Worley
•Hunter Worley, as a sophomore, went 2-2 on Friday. He defeated Camden Hugo of Chanute (no score recorded), before losing to Carden Escobar of Paola 6-1, 5-3. He would then beat Elijah Self 9-1, before getting eliminated by Leo Pedesro of Winfield 9-3.
Banks Hinshaw (left) and Jack Wright.
•Banks Hinshaw and Jack Wright also went 2-2 for the day. They beat West/Barcus of Parsons 7-6 (3), 6-3, before losing to Wurm/Bontrager of McPherson 6-3, 6-2. In the consolation bracket, they beat Jones/Seals of Fort Scott 9-1, before losing to Gorman/Luke of Hays 9-4.
The Crusaders have a very good nucleus returning next year. They will lose their No. 1 doubles team, but should return four of the six starters next season.
