GF boys tennis preview: Max Mecham is the lone returning state qualifier in Grand Forks

Aug. 14—GRAND FORKS — Defending East Region singles champion Julian Mallory of Grand Forks Red River is off to play college tennis at Augustana. Defending state doubles champions Jason Ling and Rylan Spicer of Grand Forks Central are gone, too. Ling graduated and Spicer is pursuing a hockey career. There's just one player from Grand Forks who qualified for last year's North Dakota state boys tennis individual tournament returning this season. That is Red River senior Max Mecham, who was the seventh seed from the East Region and lost in the consolation quarterfinals. The Knights and Roughriders, who finished second and third in last year's state team tournament, will have very different-looking teams this fall. "It's kind of a rebuilding year," Central coach Tom Wynne said. "I'm excited, because we have four or five hockey-playing eighth-graders who are all pretty good little athletes. They aren't going to win state or anything, but if you can have a class like that come back the next year, that's how good teams are built." The Knights lost seven players from last year's state runner-up team. The top returners are freshman Charlie Miedema and senior Henning Gibbs, who won a three-set doubles match together last season to send the Knights to the state final. Junior Bonsa Lemma, senior Bennett Berg and senior Jackson Bergman are expected to crack varsity, too. After that, it's wide open. "We're going to try to win by committee this year," Wynne said. "There's a good chance a lot of kids are going to letter. It's conceivable that we play 10 guys rather than six. The eighth-graders are good athletes. They might start off the year playing JV, just because I don't know if they know how to keep score. As soon as they figure that out, we'll throw them in there." The most accomplished player from Grand Forks is Mecham, who qualified for the state tournament as an individual each of the last two years. Mecham played doubles in 2024 and singles in 2025. "He's got really nice ground strokes," Red River coach Josh Lunak said. "He can do a lot of things with the ball. The key for him is shot selection and being patient." Mecham upset the West Region's No. 2 seed, Bismarck High's Reed Romsaas, in the opening round of last year's state singles tournament. "He can really build off his performance," Lunak said. "He really put together a solid junior campaign playing a much higher spot at No. 2 last year." Seniors Gabe Schauer, Kyler Bydal and Max McDonald all played varsity for the Roughriders last season and are expected to be major contributors this season. Junior Ethan Mason, senior Parker Rost, freshman Cullen McDonald, sophomore Alex Eickman, sophomore Byrton Kuenzel and sophomore Jack Johnson also figure to get varsity time. "I think it's going to be a lot of mixing and matching in doubles," Lunak said. "A lot of them bring different areas of strength." Last year's state champion, West Fargo Sheyenne, lost most of its key pieces, making this year's East Region race wide open. Fargo Davies, Fargo North, Fargo Shanley and Red River are expected to be among the top teams. "You have a little bit of an idea of what it looks like going off paper," Lunak said. "But you don't know who has really put in the work with the other teams."