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Trojans, Panthers dominate SEC tourney
Fairfield goes 1-2 in boys singles, Mt. Pleasant does same in doubles
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FAIRFIELD - Six medals were handed out at the Southeast Conference boys tennis tournament on Thursday, and five of those landed in the hands of either Fairfield or Mt. Pleasant.
The Trojans and Panthers dominated the 2025 SEC meet, taking up first and second in both singles and doubles, while a Fairfield doubles team also took third.
In singles competition, the Fairfield duo of Ruimin Luo and Bowen Zhang raced through the bracket to face each other in the final match.
Luo defeated Beckham Prough of Mt. Pleasant 6-0 and 6-1 in the opening round, and then defeated James Janic of Fort Madison 6-0, 6-0. Zhang beat Mt. Pleasant's Elijah Rynders 6-0 and 6-2 in the opener, and then downed Burlington's Patrick Morgan 6-4 and 6-2 in the semis.
In the championship match, Luo out-dueled Zhang, winning 6-0, 6-2.
"When you know your opponent and you know how they hit balls, there's a little less uncertainty," said Luo. "That gives you a little more confidence coming into the match."
Doubles competition was dominated by Mt. Pleasant, as a pair of Panther teams each battled to the championship match.
Unlike in singles, the doubles matches were fights almost all the way through. Mt. Pleasant's Dane Cook and Max Heater were taken to the limit in their first match, and ended up winning the title when it was all said and done.
Cook and Heater edged a Burlington squad 6-4, 4-6, 11-9 in the first round. In the semifinals, Cook and Heater upset Han Wang and Ethan Cass of Fairfield, beating them 7-5, 7-5.
"It took confidence," Heater said, "And a mindset."
On the other side of the bracket, Sawyer Fulton and Lou Schimmelpfennig knocked off Fairfield's Rylan Anderson and Niko Emerson 6-4 and 6-4 in the first round, then went down to the wire against Keokuk, winning 6-4, 4-6, 10-4.
A spirited championship saw Cook and Heater pull off a comeback win, taking the title 1-6, 7-5, 10-3.
"We just had to go out there and want to win it," Cook said. "I really wanted to win this thing, so it felt good, especially beating your own teammates."
While that happened, Fairfield's Wang and Cass won the third-place match, giving the Trojans their third Top-3 finish of the day.
The Trojans and Panthers will both be right back in Fairfield on Wednesday, for the district singles and doubles meet.
