The county had five individuals qualify for the state meet at the regional tennis tournaments on Monday and Tuesday this week.
Gold-Burg had the girl’s doubles team of Kelly Contreras and Shadie Whitaker finish second and qualify for state for the second straight year.
They were joined by Prairie Valley mixed doubles team of Isaac Yeargin and Veronica Gutierrez finishing second and qualifying for the second year as well.
The newcomer was from Gold-Burg and it was twin Sadie Whitaker who finished second in girl’s singles to qualify for state.
The 1A meet was at Whitney High School and the conditions for the second day of the tournament produced light rain and swirling winds to play through.
Contreras and Whitaker had a first round bye at the tournament before beating teams from Throckmorton (6-0, 6-1) and Richland Springs (6-0, 7-5) to reach the championship game. There they lost to a team from Priddy (6-3, 6-3) to finish second overall.
Sadie had more matches to play, winning against a player from Bloomberg (6-1, 6-0), from Rochelle (6-3, 6-3) and then had a tough three-set win against a player from Graford (6-3, 3-6, 6-3). Sadie would then lose in the championship match against a player from Slidell.
Gold-Burg Coach Cheryl Cromleigh was happy her girl’s doubles team gets to go back to state and will be joined by Sadie who went with them last just as a support.
Prairie Valley’s Yeargin and Gutierrez got a bye in the first round before beating teams from Throckmorton and Gustine in two sets each. They then lost to the team that beat them in district from Midway, but played Lingleville last for a chance to get the final state spot.
It went three sets, but the Bulldog team was able to pull it out to qualify for the state meet once again.
Not all teams and individuals ended up qualifying for the state meet. Prairie Valley had Tyler Winkler and Eli Croxton battling in boy’s singles. Winkler made it to the second round, but Croxton advanced to the fourth round and was playing for third place. Croxton would lose the close match to end his day.
From Saint Jo, the girl’s doubles team of Kate Sherwin and Kyler Dunn. The team won both matches pretty easily with scores of 6-2, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-2.
The second day saw the team face off against the tournament’s eventual champion team from Priddy.
The Lady Panthers lost in two sets, but competed better than the scores (6-1, 6-2) would indicate.
The girls played a team from Richland Springs in the final match for third place. Richland Springs would win 6-2, 6-3. Bowie had two players, Addi Eichler and Braden Case, compete at Abilene in the singles tournament. Unfortunately, results were not given by the time of our deadline.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.