By Akiko Milligan
Fall sports are always a big part of Fargo North’s start to the year, with a pretty good Rowdy Crowd at the volleyball and football games. But there is one sport that often slips everyone's mind, despite recent successful seasons and state qualifiers. Boy’s Tennis.
The Spartan tennis team returned to state for the first time in nine years, defeating Davies 3-2 to advance. “It’s pretty nice to be a part of such a nice team for North and we’ve been close so many times that it feels good that we finally got to state,” said sophomore Nate Wilson.
The team was led by number one, sophomore Arnav Panwalker, and number two, senior Drew Burris. Panwalkar trained in the off-season, including a summer training camp in Florida, to secure the number one position. “It feels good to be number one it’s harder though because even in other places in the state there's a huge gap between ones and twos so I think I’m just going to get beat more but it’s still nice,” said Panwalker.
Burris and Panwalker secured the East-2 seed in the doubles competition at state in their loss to Grand Forks Central in the EDC championship. In the team competition, the Spartans were counting on the final match. “Drew was down, and then he started coming back, and he started cramping, and he pulled it off, and then had to go to the hospital to get an IV. It was crazy. We all rushed the court. It was really a core memory for everyone,” said sophomore Dhimant Mannuru.
In the team competition at state, the Spartans lost 2-3 to Mandan and 2-3 to Minot. But Panwalkar and Burris beat Century and Legacy before their semi-final loss to Jamestown in a close match that went to three sets. They secured third place at state with their win over Minot.
Along with the team's success, head coach Steve Saville won Coach of the Year. “He’s a good coach but an even better motivator,” said Panwalker.
The Spartan team is young, so a potential force to reckon with in the coming years. Senior captain Matthew Vadrovec said, “We have a very strong team for the future and for the next few years hopefully we will make it to state more than once.”
The sophomores hold strong positions on the team, filled out by freshmen and middle schoolers. “I think there's a lot of potential. I think we will still be really good. We have a really strong couple of years,” said fifth-ranked senior captain Thomas Webb.
The underclassmen also have a positive outlook on their teams future, “I think we will be pretty solid. We have a pretty young team and we will just keep getting better. People will train in the off-season to get better,” said sixth-ranked freshman John Bourke.
Despite the potential, the graduating seniors will be missed. “Drew leaving is going to make a difference to the team because he’s been a good captain and a really good teammate and he always leads,” said eighth-grader Lewis Yan.
Overall Fargo North is the team to watch in these upcoming years with the team growing their skills and grades, this team will be a force to reckon with.
