Dow Dynasty Continues at Division 2 Final
October 20, 2012
By Greg Tunnicliff
Special to Second Half
GRAND BLANC – Mark Gorte did more this fall than just help Midland Dow capture a fourth straight MHSAA Lower Peninsula tennis championship.
He made some lifelong friendships that despite winning an MHSAA title made it tough to see this fall come to an end.
The Chargers capped a remarkable season Saturday, taking top honors with 35 points at the Division 2 Final at Genesys Athletic Club in Grand Blanc. Gorte and his partner, junior Patrick Eschbach, won the individual title at No. 3 doubles.
The top-seeded duo beat second-seeded Amey Vrudula and Nico Finelli of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 6-3, 6-1, in the championship match.
It was Gorte and Eschbach’s first individual MHSAA championship.
“It makes me proud to be on this team and contribute to winning the state championship for the fourth straight year,” Gorte said. “It also makes it harder to leave. These are some of the best guys I’ve ever known.”
Dow’s depth was the difference during the two-day event, which began at Holly and Fenton high schools but was moved indoors because of inclement weather. The Chargers placed six flights in individual finals, winning five.
Forest Hills Central came in second place with 23 points.
“When they were freshmen, (Austin Woody, Mike Templeman and David Read) made a joke and said they were going for a minimum of an eight-peat,” Dow coach Terry Schwartzkopf said. “They were good for their word their four years.”
Kalamazoo Loy Norrix junior Davis Crocker earned his second straight championship at No. 1 singles, avenging a loss in the Regional final in the process.
Crocker lost to Portage Central’s Billy Heckman, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1, in the Regional championship match before coming back Saturday and beating him, 6-1, 6-1 to win the flight.
Crocker ended the season with a 30-1 overall record.
“I had a target on my back all season so I couldn’t let up,” Crocker said. “People were gunning for me so I had to go out on a mission in the state tournament.”
Pacing Dow was senior Austin Woody, who beat second-seeded Rob Stevens of Portage Central, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 2 singles championship match.
Woody captured his 80th straight victory in the final. The streak is an MHSAA record, eclipsing the previous standard of 60 set by former Grosse Pointe University Liggett standout and ATP professional Aaron Krickstein from 1981-82.
Woody finished with a 41-0 record this season, tying the MHSAA record set by Traverse City Central’s Hunter Bergsma and Caleb Morgan in 2010 and equaled by Dow’s Jonathan Gurnee last year.
It was Woody’s second MHSAA individual championship, having won at No. 3 singles as a junior.
“It makes it a little bigger,” Woody said of his streak. “It’s cool to say you broke a record set by a professional tennis player.”
Dow junior Juli Guerra captured his third straight title Saturday, beating Portage Central’s Trevor VanderKlok, 6-2, 6-2, in the No. 3 singles championship match. Guerra won at No. 4 singles the previous two seasons.
“It’s a great experience,” Guerra said. “I have a lot of pressure on me because I won it the previous years. I have to keep working hard.”
Rounding out Dow’s singles winners was freshman Michael Szabo at No. 4. The first-year varsity player beat Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern’s Justin Minzlaff, 6-1, 6-1, in the championship match.
“I’m just proud to be here,” Szabo said. “This is just amazing to do this and win.”
Leading Dow at doubles was its No. 1 team of juniors Vikram Shanker and Jason Chang, who downed sixth-seeded Mat Denison and Stan Lassen of Battle Creek Lakeview, 6-0, 6-3, in the championship match.
It was Chang’s third individual MHSAA title, having won at No. 3 doubles in 2010 and at No. 2 doubles last year. It is Shanker’s first crown. The twosome ended 37-0 as a team.
“It’s still so awesome, and to share my whole season with him is great,” Chang said. “It’s awesome to know you won your whole state tournament.”
One of the big surprises came at No. 4 doubles where the unseeded team of sophomore Joey McClure and senior Matt Gebhardt of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central won the championship.
The twosome upset top-seeded Andrew Camp and David Read of Midland Dow, 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6), in the semifinals before downing sixth-seeded Alex Cross and Will Geller of Birmingham Seaholm, 6-1, 6-0, in the championship match.
It was McClure’s second title, having won at No. 3 doubles last year. It was Gebhardt’s first.
“The big deal was beating Dow,” said McClure who, along with Gebhardt, lost to Dow, 6-3, 6-0, earlier this season. “We had an insane match (Saturday) against them. We stayed intense and we did it for our school.”
At No. 2 doubles, second-seeded Zach Tayler and Griffin Neel of Birmingham Seaholm upset top-seeded David Goslin and Colin Angell of Midland Dow, 6-4, 6-4, in the championship match. It was the first championship for the Seaholm team.
“A lot of intensity,” Tayler said. “A lot of games went to deuce, a lot of holding serve. We just won a couple more points.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Midland Dow claimed its fourth straight MHSAA team title Saturday. (Middle) Kalamazoo Loy Norrix senior Davis Crocker repeated as individual champion at No. 1 singles. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
After Sending Every Flight to Championship Day, Seaholm Boys Secure 1st Title
By
Fred Kelly
Special for MHSAA.com
October 23, 2025
MIDLAND – Birmingham Seaholm had been knocking on the door of a first Finals boys tennis championship for the past couple of seasons.
This year, the Maples just busted it right down.
Seaholm entered this week’s Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals as the top-ranked team in the state, and the Maples made that ranking hold up, finishing with 31 points Thursday to top a 21-team field and outlast second-place Byron Center (26 points) and second-ranked Midland Dow (22).
“Last year, we were right there in the end, tied with Dow with 24 points (heading into day two). This feels good, because these returners were motivated, and they worked their butts off in the offseason,” said Seaholm eighth-year coach Nick Shaheen, whose Maples were Division 2 runners-up the last two years.
“We knew it was going to be a tough tournament. Midland Dow is a great team, and I’ve got a lot of respect for their program, and for Byron Center as well,” Shaheen added. “It took a team effort. To get eight flights into the semis is tough. We felt like we were playing our best tennis at the end of the season, and sometimes that’s what you need to win a state championship.”
The Maples won titles at three flights, as second-seeded Charlie Griffith won the No. 3 singles championship, top-seeded Joaquim Flory earned the No. 4 singles title, and the second-seeded duo of Britton Leo and Alex Ting clinched the No. 1 doubles crown.
Griffith defeated third-seeded Ryan McKendry of Byron Center 6-3, 7-5 in Thursday’s semifinals, then edged top-seeded Roman Vuljaj of Detroit U-D Jesuit 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(6) in a thrilling three-set upset to clinch the title.
Flory won a tough three-setter 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-2 over fifth-seeded Oscar DeLuca of Grosse Pointe South in the semifinals, then beat third-seeded Cole Krauss of Byron Center 7-5, 6-4 in the title match.
Leo and Ting rallied to beat third-seeded Rylan Vandenberge and Casey Schans of Byron Center 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals before going on to upset top-seeded Matt McGaugh and Nathan Song of Dow 6-2, 6-2 in the final.
Shaheen said that advancing to the semifinals in four singles flights – and to the finals in three of them – helped his Maples get over the hump this year.
“Traditionally, we’ve been known as more of a doubles power, so for us to send three flights into the singles finals was big. We really relied on the depth of our team,” he said.
“In past years, when we’ve had good runs, our singles haven’t been quite deep enough to get us there,” he added. “But on the first day (of this tournament), we went perfect, which is not easy to do. We benefitted from getting some serious all-year-around players at singles, and that helps.”
Seaholm had a Finals runner-up at No. 2 singles, as top-seeded Giorgio Materazzo beat Rei Hitachi of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals, then lost 6-3, 6-1 to third-seeded Vikram Krishnan of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern in the title match.
In other action for the Maples on Thursday, second-seeded Carter Griffith lost 6-1, 6-2 to third-seeded Mason Crosby of South Lyon East in the No. 1 singles semifinals; fourth-seeded Saajan Mahadevan and JJ Bastani lost 6-2, 6-1 to top-seeded and eventual champion Nolan Booth and Brayden Slot of Byron Center in the No. 2 doubles semifinals; third-seeded Roger Harris and Kalil Wahab lost 6-4, 6-4 to second-seeded Aidan Banchoff and Ben Vander Stelt of Byron Center in the No. 3 doubles semifinals; and second-seeded Ryan McArdle and Gabe Christman lost 6-3, 7-6(1) to third-seeded Zeke Sandholm and Brady Slot of Byron Center in the No. 4 doubles semifinals.
In Thursday’s other flight finals, top-seeded Sam Schumacher of Portage Central beat Crosby 6-2, 0-6, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Booth and Slot beat third-seeded Joseph Song and James Notarnicola of Forest Hills Central 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles, fifth-seeded Marcus Bernard and Drew Decker of Forest Hills Northern beat Banchoff and Vander Stelt 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 doubles, and top-seeded Ethan Clark and Vettel Xu of Dow beat Sandholm and Slot 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(2) at No. 4 doubles.
According to Shaheen, Seaholm’s first team title on the boys tennis side has been a long time coming.
“I’m extremely proud of our guys. This is something our senior leaders have wanted for a long time,” he said. “They see on our fence back at Seaholm all of the girls state championships, and they so badly wanted to put one on the fence for themselves. We are extremely proud of the effort they put in.”
Shaheen was particularly pleased with how his Maples adjusted to the unpredictable weather in Midland, which prompted play to be bounced back and forth between the Greater Midland Tennis Center’s indoor and outdoor courts.
“For them to come out here and be adaptable – playing indoors, outdoors, indoors, outdoors – I give our boys a lot of credit, because that’s not easy,” he noted. “They were super tough this week. It's a tough, emotional week, so for them to handle that pressure and the ups and downs and come out on the other side is really awesome.”
(PHOTOS by High School Sports Scene.)