Allegan Earns 1st Title, Hackett 1st Since 2005
October 20, 2019
By Greg Chrapek
Special for Second Half
HOLLAND – After chasing an elusive MHSAA Finals tennis championship for years, what would a few more hours waiting matter for the Allegan boys tennis team?
With all but the No. 3 singles semifinals and final completed Saturday afternoon at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals at Hope College, Allegan and Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep were tied for first place with 21 total team points apiece. The No. 3 singles semifinals were moved to the evening, with a match between Hackett and Ann Arbor Father Gabriel Richard set to determine if Hackett won the title outright or shared with Allegan.
For some six to seven hours Saturday afternoon, the Tigers had to anxiously wait for their fate to be determined by a pair of players from a team other than their own. The coaches kept the team busy with lunch and a trip to the BAM! Entertainment Center, where the team played laser tag to burn off the nervous energy.
While the coaching staff kept the team occupied, the anxiety was still prevalent.
“It was very high stress,” said Walker Michaels, one of five seniors on the team. “It was a lot of stress waiting all day to find out if we would win a state championship or not.”
Allegan’s nerve level was heightened considerably shortly after the semifinals began. After Hackett jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set, Gabriel Richard senior Rafid Farjo quickly became Allegan’s favorite tennis player not wearing orange and black when he battled back to win the first set. Farjo then made every Allegan tennis player’s dream come true when he won the second set, sending him into the final at No. 3 singles and Allegan to the victory stand where the Tigers shared the team championship trophy with the Hackett team that it previously defeated for the Regional championship.
“This is the first time that Allegan has won a state tennis title, boys or girls,” said Allegan co-coach Seth Arthur. “These guys have worked their tails off. They’ve played with the pressure of being number one in the state all year. To win the first tennis title in school history is an unbelievable feeling.”
For Allegan seniors Tim Lyon, Owen Clearwater, David Roark, Noah Festerling and Michaels, the wait was more than worth it.
“This was everything we worked for and dreamed of,” Lyon said. “All the hard work and every practice paid off.”
“Winning the first-ever state title is very exciting,” Clearwater said. “It’s a blessing to be a part of this and to be a part of Allegan High School.”
Winning required a total-team effort. Freshman Eli Festerling was Allegan’s lone flight champion as he captured the title at No. 4 singles.
“I knew it was going to be really hard,” Festerling said. “I played (finalist Gerry Sherer of Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett) earlier this year, and he has become a lot better. He was a lot more confident, and I was not prepared for that in the first set. I kept the pace up, and that made the difference for me.”
Kalamazoo Hackett earned a share of the Division 4 title without winning a flight championship. Instead, the Irish utilized the same formula that Allegan used as the total-team effort produced the needed points.
Hackett put a total of five flights into the semifinal round, with three flights reaching the finals. Jack Ford advanced at No. 2 singles, while Connor Cavanaugh and Anthony Toweson reached the finals at No. 2 doubles and Jack Gordon and Miklas Johansson reached the finals at No. 3 doubles.
“We have a pretty special team this year,” said Cavanaugh, a senior. “No one expected our team to win a state title. All of our hard work paid off. As a team we collectively put in the hard work, and all of that hard work paid off.”
The Finals title was the first won by Hackett since the Irish tied Grosse Ile for the Division 4 title in 2005.
This year’s Finals were a wide-open competition from the opening volley to the last serve. Liggett finished just one point behind Allegan and Hackett, while Gabriel Richard, Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian, Grand Rapids Catholic Central and Traverse City St. Francis all finished within five points of first place.
“There were just a lot of good teams spread out in Division 4 this year,” said Hackett coach Aaron Conroy. “We had a heck of a season. The guys worked real hard right from the start. It feels great to do it. The margin for error was very small, and we had everybody on the team step up.”
The parity in Division 4 was evident by the number of schools that won flight championships. Liggett was led by William Cooksey, who defeated Gabriel Richard’s Ian Sood at No. 1 singles for his third straight title at that flight. Gabriel Richard’s Tommy Heegan won the title at No. 2 singles, and St. Francis’ Cody Richards won at No. 3.
In doubles action, the St. Francis duo of senior Brendan Chouinard and sophomore Ben Schmude claimed the title at No. 1 doubles.
For Chouinard, it was the second-straight year he was part of a doubles champion.
“We came out with a lot of intensity,” Chouinard said. “We jumped out to a 5-0 lead and won that first set. We got down in the second set, but we picked it up and won it.”
Playing with a new partner in Schmude took a little getting used to, but once the duo became familiar with each other they took off this season.
“I knew that once we got used to playing together that no one would beat us,” Schmude said. “We do a good job of picking each other up when we get down.”
Like Allegan and Hackett, the Gladiators had to wait the long period Saturday afternoon to play in the other No. 3 semifinal.
“It was a long day,” said St. Francis coach Dane Fosgard prior to the conclusion. “We were up at 7 a.m. for breakfast, and the final match will be done around midnight. We’re used to it. We travel a lot. We came down here for a tournament at Hope College at the start of the season and played all day and slept on the courts at night. We will spend the night here. It’s fun for the team.”
A pair of Grand Rapids-area teams claimed the three other doubles championships. NorthPointe won both the Nos. 2 and No. 3 doubles titles. Elan Bosma and Derek Diepenhorst teamed up to win at No. 2, with Chase Berends and Sam Bradley winning at No. 3.
At No. 4 doubles, the Grand Rapids Catholic Central team of Cameron Beachler and Ben English came away with the title.
PHOTOS: (Top) Allegan celebrates its first MHSAA Finals tennis championship Saturday. (Middle) Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep’s Jack Ford is pleased after claiming a point during a No. 2 singles match. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Holland Courts Honor Program Builder
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 5, 2016
A few days after he stood in front of a group of admirers including friends, fellow coaches and former players – including some from his first Holland High School tennis team in 1972 – Dwayne “Tiger” Teusink drove past the courts that now bear his name.
It’s a welcoming sight honoring someone who has welcomed thousands though the sport over more than a half century as a coach and administrator.
Teusink, a 1954 graduate of Holland High and later Hope College, coached high school tennis at Jackson for seven years and then Holland for 35 while also lending a significant behind-the-scenes voice in the formation of high school tennis as it’s played in Michigan today.
He was recognized for those and many more contributions during the Dutch’s Homecoming weekend Sept. 24 as reportedly more than 200 attendees cheered the renaming of the 5-year-old Holland High facility as the “Tiger Teusink Courts” in honor of the longtime teacher, athletic director and coach.
“The whole experience was overwhelming,” Teusink said Tuesday. “Our facility is a first-rate facility. Holland has always had a great tennis program. The community supports tennis, and this facility obviously belongs to the community, but it makes me really proud that my name is associated with it.”
He’s been associated with most of the foundation-setting of the sport both locally and statewide over the last five decades.
After his time at Jackson High, Teusink returned home to Holland in 1972 and continued as a teacher until 1989 and coach until 1998. He led high school teams to a 453-176-4 record with 13 conference and 16 MHSAA Regional titles, and his Holland boys team was a runner-up at the 1976 Class A Final. He also coached at Hope College from 1994-2009.
At a statewide level, Teusink’s work has affected thousands more. He was on the committee that in 1976 introduced the flighted MHSAA tournament structure developed to promote a team format that remains the standard today. While at Holland, Teusink managed 63 Regional and 17 MHSAA Finals tournaments, and he served on the Finals seeding committee from 1980-2011.
He continues to serve on the MHSAA tennis committee that annually considers rules changes and other business that pertains to the sport. He also has played a major role in the development of the Michigan Interscholastic Tennis Coaches Association, and held offices of president, vice president and secretary/treasurer over a 32-year span.
“He was a mentor to me on how to not only to teach the game, but more importantly teach kids the right way to compete and to enjoy the sport,” said Grand Haven Lakeshore Middle School principal Kevin Polston, who coached tennis at DeWitt from 1999-2002 and then both Buccaneers varsities from 2003-08, and served with Teusink on the MHSTeCA board. “I respected that he always stood for what was right, even if it wasn't easy. You always knew where Tiger stood on something, and he could clearly explain why he came to the conclusions he did. Quite simply, when Tiger spoke, people listened.”
Kevin O’Keefe played four seasons for Teusink before graduating in 1986 and has heard from a number of other alums how their coach was ahead of his time.
As the current Dutch coach since 2008, O’Keefe inherited the “big binder bible” of Teusink’s lesson and practice plans that also contains his mentor’s thoughts on everything from conducting challenge matches to motivating players and working with parents.
“He’d come every day with a plan in mind and with an agenda,” O’Keefe said. “The logistics of how it works still work. A lot of it is still quite relevant.”
Other ways Teusink has become memorable and respected over the years are not known by many. His players always knew that being on time meant being five minutes early, and Teusink would have practices start at odd times like 3:14 or buses leave at 6:54 so his players wouldn’t forget. Polston received the mentor’s help one year running Grand Haven’s league tournament – and marveled at how Teusink allowed players to pick on which court they played, and then also kept track to make sure each school got to pick a court the same number of times.
A more significant philosophy surely benefited hundreds who have played for him. Teusink’s was a no-cut program; his teams regularly numbered 45-50 athletes. “That simply enhanced the things we did to teach teamwork, team discipline, belonging to a team and so on,” Teusink said.
Teusink earned induction into the Michigan High School Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1986, the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1989 and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2003. He was named National High School Coach of the Year by the United States Tennis Association in 2005, receiving his award at the U.S. Open.
Teusink captained the Hope College men’s basketball team during the 1957-58 season for Russ DeVette, who taught Teusink much about "simply coaching, how to deal with people." Teusink’s first mentor was Joe Moran, who preceded Teusink as Holland’s tennis coaching legend and is the namesake of one of the city’s public parks and tennis courts.
And just as Teusink drove by the sign bearing his name last week, he’ll surely visit more in the future as he remains a sounding board both for his former player and many tennis decision-makers in our state.
“He comes to probably 2-4 matches a year. We stay in touch. I still call him for things,” O’Keefe said. “He’s always there, always ready to answer a question, give advice.”
PHOTO: Tiger Teusink stands with the plaque presented to him Sept. 24, when the Holland High School tennis courts were renamed in his honor. (Photo courtesy of the Holland athletic department.)