A junior tennis team that included five Clark County high school players competed against some of the nation’s best.
The Evergreen Tennis team took part in the United States Tennis Association Junior Team U-18 National Championships Oct. 20-23 in Cayce, S.C.
Coached by Matt Houser, the team included Samantha Merrill (Washougal), Sydney Wallace (Vancouver), Bjorn Morfin (Vancouver), Brian Wang (Camas), Wilson Ho (Camas), Grace Maxey (Damascus, Ore.).
In pool play, Evergreen Tennis was paired with teams from New York, the Washington, D.C., area and from Los Gatos, Calif.
Evergreen went 2-16 in its matches. Each player played three matches, with Merrill and Wallace each winning one.
It was the first team to represent Evergreen Tennis, a Camas facility that opened last year.
Evergreen was one of 16 teams to qualify for nationals based on a 27-3 record in league play this summer, and a second-place finish in sectional competition.
Snowboarder selected for Special Olympics
Jeremy Beckham of Vancouver has been selected to compete in the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria next March.
Beckham, who has a sensory and neurological disorder, won a silver medal at last year’s Washington State Special Olympics snowboarding competition.
His silver medal placed his name in a lottery for a chance to be selected for Team USA.
Beckham, 20, will travel to Vermont in December to begin training with Team USA.
His family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money so they can travel too. It’s at www.gofundme.com/help4motherswish.
COMMUNITY SPORTS NEWS is published each Tuesday. Submit items by sending email to sports@columbian.com or by calling 360-735-4484.
