Two runner-up finishes and two more placeholders propelled the Trojan boys’ tennis team to a second place finish at the conference meet on Monday. Last year, the Atlantic squad earned top-dog honors at the Hawkeye 10 tournament. This year, the Trojans replaced the majority of their lineup and almost snagged the team title again, but came up short by one point to eventual-champion Clarinda.

Junior Nile Petersen played in the #1 singles division, where he was seeded second. He creamed opponents from Red Oak and Kuemper Catholic before earning his spot in the championship match. Stacked up against the one seed–Reed Miller of St. Albert–Petersen played hard, but lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. With the loss, Petersen secured 2nd place in his division, and added seven points to Atlantic’s team total.

Sophomore Grant Sturm competed in the #2 singles draw. As he wasn’t seeded as high, G. Sturm played right away, beating an opponent from Denison-Schleswig, 8-4. After winning his first match, G. Sturm’s next challenger was the number-one seed. He was unable to outplay the top seed, and lost his first match of the day, 8-2. G. Sturm battled back, winning all three of his consolation matches to earn the 5th-place medal. His 5th-place result contributed four points to the team scoring.

Juniors Jesse Reid and Brody O’Brien made up the Trojan #1 doubles team. Seeded fourth, Reid and O’Brien topped the Creston team 8-0 before losing 8-2 in the semifinals against eventual-division-champion Denison-Schleswig. In the match for 3rd place, Reid and O’Brien faced off against a pair from Clarinda, and fell short 8-5. The duo’s results earned five points for Atlantic in the team competition.

The #2 doubles team of sophomore Ethan Williams and freshman Ethan Sturm upset a variety of doubles teams en route to the championship match. Creston, Lewis Central, and Clarinda all fell victim to Williams and E. Sturm. In the championship match, Denison-Schleswig quickly grabbed the first set, 6-2. The Trojans attempted to push the match to a third-set tiebreak, but came up short, 7-5. The runner-up finish added seven more points to the Trojans’ total.

At the end of the day, Atlantic compiled 23 points, which was not enough to snatch the team title. Clarinda was the winner, putting together 24 points in the team race.

Next up for the Trojan boys is a dual against St. Albert on Thursday.