Sophomore Shewey places eighth at state
By RYAN RICHTER
Sports writer
Despite only being a sophomore, Trojan tennis player Clay Shewey knows a thing or two about handling pressure.
Two years ago as an eighth grader, Shewey qualified for the Kansas State Spelling Bee, not to mention seeing some productive minutes this season for the Trojans' basketball team.
The pressure was hot again Friday and Saturday in Wichita at the Class 3-2-1A Kansas State Tennis Championship hosted by Wichita Collegiate.
Shewey was able to shake off the butterflies and a tough start to eventually finish eighth in coach Kory Unruh's final run at the helm. Unruh will take over the Trojan middle school football program in the fall.
"Clay had a tough draw coming in and he got off to a tough start," Unruh said. "If he'd have had a better start, it's hard saying how he could have done. He did a great job."
The Claflin Wildcats thwarted the defending champion Spartans' hopes of a 14th title the last 17 years, winning 30-29, while Shewey helped Hillsboro finish 12th out of 15 schools.
Shewey went 2-1 Friday with wins coming against Ellinwood and Fredonia to help guarantee a finish no lower than eighth.
Fredonia's Edjuardo Han beat Shewey during the regular season before capturing the regional title last week. Shewey got some retribution, downing the 10th-place finishing Han Friday, 9-5.
But Shewey stumbled the next two matches against the Spartans' fifth-place Miles Dunne, 6-0 and 9-1, to set up a rematch against his Kansas City-Maranatha opponent. The Trojans' season came to a close with Shewey on the short end of a 9-5 match.
Wichita Independent's Ryan Norman was the singles' state champion, topping Claflin's Taylor Bieberle.
"We were a young team, but we wrapped up a great season," Unruh said. "We had a tough regional, but we improved. It's hard to leave a team this young. It was good to go out with the way Clay ended the year, he led the team as a sophomore and he played his best when it mattered the most."
