American Fork boys bring home first state tennis title
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- The American Fork boys tennis team celebrates with the state championship trophy after winning the 6A title at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
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- American Fork’s Antoni Ramon (center) celebrates with teammates after winning the No. 3 Singles title in the 6A boys tennis championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
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- Lone Peak’s Simon Bliss serves in the 2nd Doubles title match against American Fork at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
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- American Fork’s Griffin Karras, left, takes a break during his 2nd Singles 6A state championship match at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
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- American Fork’s Griffin Karras takes a shot in his 2nd Singles state championship match on Saturday at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.
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- American Fork’s Antoni Ramon (left) talks to coach Jason Herrud during the 6A boys state tennis championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday May 14, 2022.
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- Lone Peak’s Simon Bliss (center) celebrates with teammates after he and partner Lucas Jackson won the 2nd Doubles title at the 6A boys tennis championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
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- No. 1 Singles champion Caden Hasler of American Fork (right) poses for photos with coach Jason Herrud at the 6A boys tennis championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
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- American Fork’s Griffin Karras, right, shakes hands with Farmington’s Justin Steed after winning the No. 2 Singles title at the 6A boys tennis championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday, May 14, 2022.
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- American Fork’s Griffin Karras takes a shot in his 2nd Singles title match in the 6A boys tennis championships at Liberty Park on Saturday. May 14, 2022.
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- American Fork’s Griffin Karras (center) gets a hug from a teammate after winning the 2nd Singles title at the 6A boys state championships at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on Saturday. May 14, 2022.
The Utah High School Activities Association has been awarding state championships in tennis since 1963.
American Fork had never won a state tennis title, but that little oversight has been corrected.
The Cavemen boys tennis team won all three singles titles in Saturday’s Class 6A Tournament at Liberty Park, finishing with 24 points to claim the school’s first-ever team title.
Lone Peak, who had won the previous five team championships, was second with 16 points.
“It means the world,” said American Fork junior Caden Hasler, who beat Josh Jones of Farmington for the 1st Singles title. “We’re so excited. All these guys have worked so hard in the offseason. They’re all playing every day so this is very well deserved. Everybody on the team had really high energy and was really supporting each other. We love each other and help each other along.”
Griffin Karras, who won the 3rd Singles title last year while competing at Lone Peak, defeated Justin Steed of Farmington 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to claim the 2nd Singles crown for American Fork. He received double applause during the awards ceremony from his current and former teammates.
In 3rd Singles, Spanish exchange student Antoni Ramon edged out Corner Canyon’s Spencer Willes 7-6 (3), 7-6 for the title. Ramon said he moved to American Fork just eight months ago.
“Back in Spain, we don’t have high school teams so this is awesome,” Ramon said. “I had to come back in my last match because I was down. Most of it was mental. But it’s really cool to be part of a team that wins a state championship.”
American Fork finished second in the 6A Tournament in 2019 and third in 2021, building toward their first championship on Saturday.
“These guys have been putting in a lot of work for a long time,” AF coach Jason Herrud said. “We had some success last year and a lot of these kids were sophomores. Now they’re juniors and we’re getting the second and the third generation of families in our program. They’ve seen what it needs and and it’s a taste of success to win.”
Herrud pointed to senior Carson McBeth, who was the team’s No. 2 singles player last year and made the semifinals. McBeth ended up moving to play 2nd Doubles with Sam Jensen and the pair finished second at state.
“It’s hard to step in and play doubles after playing singles your whole life,” Herrud said. “He did it without regard for anything other than wanting to make the team better. It takes a lot of selfless acts like that. These guys put their pride in their back pocket for a little bit and did whatever was best for the team.”
Hassler, one of the top junior players in the West, faced a hard-hitting Jones in the 1st Singles final but came out on top 6-3, 6-1.
“When you have a kid like Caden, that brings a little bit of extra swagger to the team and confidence,” Herrud said. “Everyone feels that and everyone plays better. And it happened down the line, where every single position we had made everyone better.”
Hasler is the son of BYU women’s tennis coach Holly Parkinson Hasler. He said he weathered the storm against Jones, who hit a number of good shots against him.
“There were still some nerves because we all want to win and it’s a big deal,” Caden Hasler said. “I just kind of sit down and get locked in. Usually I’m able to get my nerves out after a game or two. I thought I played pretty well. My forehand felt good and my serve was good today, an improvement from Thursday.”
American Fork had semifinalists in every position heading into Saturday.
“Winning the team title, that was goal all along,” Herrud said. “You never want to count your chickens but with this group, it was easy not to because they all have that confidence. They weren’t cocky about it and nothing was taken for granted. It makes us very proud to be Cavemen to do this for the school.”
Lone Peak won both doubles championships, with Simon Bliss and Lucas Jackson beating American Fork’s McBeth and Jensen 6-3, 6-2 in 2nd Doubles and Nathan Ashton and Abram Robbins outlasting Corner Canyon’s Cole and Charlie Jenkins 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in 1st Doubles.
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