Wampus Cats wind districts; send 10 to state

PULLMAN — For the sixth time in seven years, the Clark Fork tennis team won the 3A District 1-2 tennis championships, using some stellar doubles play to edge Coeur d’Alene Charter 92-89 in the final team standings Saturday at Washington State University.

Shaina Gustafson and Chelsea Macumber (see feature on page 11) lost just one game en route to the girls singles title, blanking teams from Grangeville and Charter before beating teammates Claire McMahon and Brocklynn Thornton 6-1, 6-0 in the championship match.

Stillman Berkley and Nate Nesbitt teamed up to win the boys doubles title, dropping just two games in straight set wins over two teams from Charter and one from Grangeville.

Celeste Komanec and Nate Christensen teamed up to win two matches, before falling to Grangeville 6-4, 7-5 in the championship of mixed doubles, finishing second. Kandice Daniels and Victor Walker lost a tight first match to Charter, before bouncing back to beat Deary and Charter for a third place finish.

Heather Wold won once and lost twice in girls singles, Tala Fehsel won twice and lost twice and Laura Emmi won twice and lost twice to round out the Clark Fork players.

All 10 Wampus Cat doubles players qualified for state, which starts Friday in Boise. The 1A Cats are primed to make a run at a team trophy, no small task facing bigger 3A schools.