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2023 Spring Fling results in silver bling

2023 Spring Fling results in silver bling

by Kevin Morris
May 31st, 2023

Story and photos by Kendall Patterson
Sports Editor

Chester County did not get any gold hardware, but silver still looks good on them.
At Spring Fling 2023, Chester County was able to be called runners-up in the state in two events, Boys Tennis Doubles and Boys 1600m race.
Recent Chester County Graduate Stewart Brown was able to place second in the 1600m race which was the last track event last Tuesday. He finished with a time of 4:33.54.
Nathan Britt and Ethan Mullins were the runner-up boys doubles team in the state.
After 800 meters, he knew he had a shot to win it all. Though he was not able to do so, he said that he is still proud of his results.
“In the 1600 we went out slow. It was anybody’s race at 800. And I was just like, I know I need to go with the top dogs because they were gonna make a move. I was like I just need to go with them if I want to place well and that’s exactly what I did and it turned out pretty good in my favor,” he said. “It was tiring. For sure exhausting. But you can’t be upset with that. What better way to end your high school career than the state runner up. I cannot ask for more.”
Bella Lamb also ran the 1600m race and earned eighth place with a time of 5:58.386.
Both of them ran the 3200m race. Brown was able to get third with a time of 9:46.28, and Lamb got eighth with a time of 13:07.54.
Brown also ran with his team of 4×800 runners, Silas McManus, Garrett Robison and Dillon Williams. They earned sixth place with a time of 8:33.712.
Last but not least, Hannah Rich threw for Chester County in the discus and shot put and earned fifth place in both of them. In shot put she threw 33 feet and 4.25 inches. In dis- cus, she threw 102 feet and 4 inches.
To the younger runners Brown leaves them with this advice – “Practice like you never won. Run like you never lost.”
As previously stated, Chester County Doubles duo of Nathan Britt and Ethan Mullins earned the title of Runner-up Boys Doubles Team of DI-A.
During the championship match they lost 2-0. In the semifinals they won 2-1. In the first round they won 2-0.
Britt and Mullins said that though they have only played together for a couple years, they still love their partnership on the courts and have made it the furthest in CCHS Tennis history by making it to the championship match.
“We haven’t been playing together forever,” Mullins explained. “Nathan is pretty new to the sport still. He’s just a natural athlete and he’s amazing at it. I been playing since eighth grade. We just kind of clicked our first doubles match. I think we lost, but it was still a very good match. We knew from then that we were going to stay a doubles team. It’s been a really fun ride with him all the way through my senior year, and I’m hoping we get to play more in the future.
In regard to their success this year, Mullins said, “It felt great. We got here last year, and we got blown out in the first round. It was a close match, but it just wasn’t what we were expecting. Being able to come here again and get two rounds in from that felt really good to be able to show my improvement in the sport.”
Britt then gave his side of their success story.
“I’ve been playing a little over a year and a half now. And one of the first people I played with was Ethan. Me and Ethan became friends. And he was like ‘dude let’s play doubles together.’ So that worked out last year. We played all year and ended up making it to state. We lost first round. This year we had to make a difficult decision, because we both wanted to play singles but you can only make it to state in one event; singles or doubles. You can’t do both. So we decide no. We are going to stay together and play doubles and see what we can do. So it’s very exciting to make it to the championship round and get to see our hard work pay off… Not the way we wanted to see it end but we are both really proud of ourselves,” Britt said.
The two now part paths after graduating this year.
In addition to Britt and Mullins, Cecily Davis and Grace Compton competed in the girls doubles state tournament but were eliminated in the semifinals. They lost in the third set, 2-1. In the first round they won 2-0.
The two girls, though they lost, have made history for Chester County Girls Tennis as the first girls to compete at state.
“At the end of last season, Grace and I made it our goal to make it to state in ‘23 as a doubles team. While we accomplished that goal, we didn’t want to stop winning. So we kept working and it paid off and took us to the semifinals. None of this would have happened without our team. Our upperclassmen showed great leadership. Our new players stepped up and won when we most needed it,” Davis said. “As far as history, I’m just honored to be a part of the Chester County tennis team and to be part of a championship tradition. We are all very excited about how our year turned out.”
“We used motivation from last year,” Grace added. “We were one game away from making it to state. We knew that we had a good shot. Everybody on the team has helped me get to where I am today, and I’m just thankful for everybody on the team. It stinks we lost semifinals. But we were the first girls’ team to make it so it feels pretty good.”
Though this was the end of Compton’s high school tennis career, Cecily Davis will still be playing for CCHS. Nevertheless, Davis said that she will miss her doubles partner.
“Grace and I work really well together,” she explained. “Grace is one of the most competitive people I have ever met and always pushes me to not give up. We have played a lot of matches together, including the 51 games we played Thursday. I’m forever thankful I have been able to call a friend like Grace my partner.”
Also representing CCHS in tennis were the CCHS Boys Tennis Team and Austin Ketchum in the Boys Singles Tournament. Unfortunately. the boys team and Ketchum could not advance past the first round.