Litchfield wound up with three top-three finishes — and two state tournament qualifiers — in the individual portion of the Section 2A Tennis Tournament Thursday at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.
Dragons senior Mason Woelfel claimed the Section 2A singles championship by rolling through his semifinals and finals matches, advancing to the state tournament for the first time in his career. Teammate Garrison Jackman, a sophomore, took third place in the tournament.
Litchfield’s other individual state qualifier was the doubles tandem of juniors Alex Draeger and Braden Olson, who finished runner-up.
Litchfield also won the section team championship and a spot in the state tournament, beating St. Peter in the finals on Monday at Gustavus Adolphus.
The Class A State Tennis Tournament is scheduled for June 7-10 at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center in Minneapolis.
Woelfel, 16-1 and seeded second in the singles bracket, advanced to the second day of competition after receiving a first-round bye, then beating Brennan Kern of St. James 6-1, 6-0 in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
He continued his strong play Thursday, beating Holy Family Catholic’s Jack Schaefer 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals.
Woelfel squared off against top-seeded Michael Frost of Holy Family Catholic for the section championship. Frost had reached the finals by beating Jackman 6-3, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Woelfel claimed the title with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Frost. Jackman, meanwhile, took third place with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Schaefer.
The No. 1 seed in the section, Drager and Olson advanced to the doubles final with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) win over Southwest Christian’s Luke Schwen and Max Schmidt.
The Litchfield duo suffered a mild upset in the championship match, however, as they fell to second-seeded Marty Anderson and Cooper Dean of St. Peter.
