By BUTCH HARMON
Led by Matt Heeder, the Lansing Catholic boys tennis team wrapped up the season in a big way at the Division 4 state finals.
Heeder, a junior who came in as the No. 1 seed, captured the state title at No. 1 singles for the Cougars, who finished in fourth place as a team.
Heeder fell behind early in his match against Nicholas Solarewicz of Grand Rapids West Catholic before coming back to win in two sets.
“After getting down 3-0, I started staying down on the ball,” Heeder said. “I was a little nervous the first couple of games, but Coach settled me down, and I got into a groove. I tried not to overthink. I just did what I was capable of doing.”
The Cougars had a number of strong efforts at the finals. Anthony Davis reached the semifinals at No. 2 singles and Chris Heeder reached the quarterfinals at No. 3 singles. In doubles action, Catholic’s No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams reached the semifinals and No. 4 doubles reached the quarterfinals.
Portland finished seventh overall. The Raiders’ No. 1, 2, and 3 doubles teams reached the semifinals, and the No. 4 doubles team reached the quarterfinals.
Garber placed 11th, as Andrew Martin reached the quarterfinals at No. 3 singles and Jake Wojciechowski reached the semifinals at No. 4 singles.
Frankenmuth placed 16th, led by Joey Seder who reached the quarterfinals at No. 4 singles.
At the Division 3 meet, DeWitt finished 10th overall. Sam Schuster at No. 1 singles and the No. 2 doubles team reached the quarterfinals for the Panthers.
Haslett tied for 11th, as Matt Stewart at No. 3 singles and the No. 1 doubles team reached the quarterfinals.
Mt. Pleasant also tied for 11th, as both the No. 2 and the No. 3 doubles teams reached the quarterfinals.
While Midland Dow won the Division 2 title, Okemos placed sixth overall as a team. Jordan Jacobsen reached the semifinals at No. 2 singles, while Elan Dantus at No. 1 singles and Kartikeya Kamdula at No. 4 singles both reached the quarterfinals.
At the Division 1 finals, Rockford finished 12th overall as a team, as both the No. 1 and the No. 4 doubles teams reached the quarterfinals.
Grand Blanc and Midland tied for 17th. Grand Blanc’s Adam Burau reached the quarterfinals at No. 3 singles. Jonathon Hentschel of Midland advanced to the quarterfinals at No. 2 singles as did Midland’s No. 3 doubles team.