Reggie Ronning was the singles champion, defeating his Cardinal teammate Connor Illies 10-6 in the finals, on Tuesday. Those seniors-to-be also won the doubles crown Monday.
The singles champion was Reggie Ronning of Alexandria, nephew of Elk coach and tournament director Randy Ronning. (Photo by Bruce Strand)
Elk seniors-to-be Zac Carter and Keagan Blancke each posted three wins to reach the semifinals of the 32-man field. After their losses to Alexandria foes, Carter beat his teammate for third place with two tie-breaks to one.
Carter and Blancke were also doubles runners-up, and Elk junior-to-be Ryan Ness was singles consolation champion.
Elk River's top returning player, Brendan O'Connell, did not participate.
"Elk River kids had a great tournament," said Randy Ronning, Elks boys' coach and tournament director. "Zac and Keagan have really been coming on. They gave good matches to the top two singles players from a pretty strong team in our section (Alexandria). Ryan Ness, who was a JV player for us this year, has come out of nowhere. This was his first year in the program."
Blancke, Carter and O'Connell will lead a revamped Elk team next year with heavy graduation losses after three straight years in the state tournament.
"We will be a young team and the kids are doing what they need to do, to be competitive," said Ronning.
O'Connell, the Elks' all-time win leader, passed up the local tournament because he probably would not have been challenged, said Ronning. But O'Connell has been keeping busy. He took two-time state runner-up Paul Swanson to three sets twice in recent weeks, Ronning said.
Reggie Ronning, who is Randy's nephew, went 5-0 in the field of 32 players from 11 schools. He beat Logan McDermodt of Totino-Grace 10-2, Bob Johnson of Elk River 10-3, Mitchel Brandell of Elk River 10-2, and Blancke 10-7 to reach the finals. In the other semifinal, Illies defeated Carter 10-3.
Ness lost his opening match to Erik McConnon of Monticello 10-3, but came back to defeat Tanner Linnard of Mounds View 10-7, Kirby Ronning of Spring Lake Park 10-2 and Luke Eberly of Alexandria 6-4.
The Ronning-Illies duo beat three Elk tandems for the doubles crown — Ness and Trent Thompson 6-1, 6-0; Brandell and Johnson 6-1, 6-4; and, in an exciting finals match, Carter and Blancke 6-3, 7-6.
Keagan and Carter had beaten Jake Otterness and Joey Goeden of Alexandria 6-0, 6-1, and Chris Odegard and Dusty Thelen of St. Michael-Albertville 6-0, 6-5.
Brandell and Bob Johnson won third place honors beating Odegard and Dusty Thelen 6-3, 6-2. Consolation went to Matt Peterson and Marvin Wensman of Alexandria.
The girls Northwest Suburban tournament will be held July 7-8.
