Prior to this season, only one Trenton boys tennis player had ever won a state medal. That was Brad Cross and he did it in 1982, placing fourth in the singles bracket.
That was 36 years ago.
But that drought is now over and Cross has company on the list of Trenton boys tennis state medalists.
Creed Houghton and Kade Ockenfels became the first doubles team in program history to capture a state medal, placing eighth in the state tournament on Saturday at the Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield.
Trenton’s duo picked up a first round win on Friday, but had to work for every point. In the end, a 7-6, 7-6 victory with tiebreakers of 7-4 and 7-2 pushed Ockenfels and Houghton into the quarterfinals.
The Trenton tandem fell 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals, relegating them to the consolation bracket. Ockenfels and Houghton kept their medal hopes alive, however, bouncing back with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) win to push them through to Saturday.
“Kade and Creed had a full first day of tennis and it set them up to medal on Saturday,” Trenton Coach Dave Sager said. “This doubles team has been together for two years and I expected them to have a great season after the very successful one they had last year. Day one of the state tournament, Kade and Creed were playing the best tennis I’ve seen them play all season. Even if they were behind in a set, they re-grouped and made the needed adjustments to get to day two of the tournament.”
On day two, Houghton and Ockenfels would fall twice. The first – a 6-3, 6-2 loss – put the team in the seventh-place match. The second – a 6-0, 6-2 loss – placed the Trenton team eighth overall, the final spot to receive a medal at state.
“Day two was a little rough on the boys,” Sager said. “They were mentally drained from the three matches on day one. Kade and Creed finished the tournament as the eighth-place doubles medalists and they should be proud of what they have accomplished.”
Trenton’s two singles entries in the tournament – Nick Shields and Gabe Swann – didn’t make it to the tournament’s second day. Shields fell 6-0, 6-1 in the opening round while Swann lost 6-1, 6-0. In the consolation bracket, Shields’ season ended with a 6-0, 6-2 loss while Swann, despite pushing his match to a third set, lost 6-4, 3-6, 3-6.
“In singles, both Gabe and Nick had extremely hard draws from the get go,” Sager said. “Don’t let the scores in Nick’s matches fool you; he played very well in both his matches and went to deuce many times in his games. Gabe was in the same boat as Nick. On the consolation side, Gabe had a great start to his match with the player from Sikeston winning the first set but he soon lost some of his momentum and couldn’t find a way to get back on top. Nick and Gabe both should be proud of how well they played at this state tournament and I know they are already eager to get back to the tournament next season.”
Trenton will return Shields, Swann and Houghton next season as only Ockenfels is a senior. Ockenfels and Houghton had a 20-plus win doubles season, allowing Ockenfels to close his career at THS with 50-plus doubles wins, 50-plus singles wins and 100-plus combined wins.
“Our four boys that made it to the state tournament had a great showing against the best tennis players in the state,” Sager said. “These four boys deserved to get as far as they did this season and I’d like to thank them for letting me be a part of their journey as well. A lot of great things have happened this tennis season, individually for our boys and the team as a whole: back-to-back district team titles, individual district titles in singles and doubles, four players advancing to the state tournament individually, the team playing in the state team sectional in back-to-back years and finishing the year off with state medals going to a doubles team. It has truly been a wonderful year for our boys and the tennis program.”