How this team won its first NIC-10 boys tennis title in 29 years and expects to win more
In 1995 Freeport failed to snap Guilford’s streak of 123 consecutive conference tennis dual meet victories, but the Pretzels did edge Guilford to win the conference tournament.
Three decades later, there was no proof that Freeport had snapped Guilford’s streak of 13 consecutive conference titles. Freeport gave the traveling trophy back to Guilford the next year before adding its engraved nameplate for 1995. “I would have thought that would be the first thing they would do,” then-Guilford coach Dale Larson told the Register Star at the time.
That 1995 Freeport nameplate never did get added to the traveling trophy.
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“I was beginning to believe I had been telling stories all these years,” Freeport coach Ed Schradermeier said.
Freeport’s tennis team finally has new stories to tell. The Pretzels dominated the NIC-10 this year, going undefeated in dual meets. And Saturday they rolled to their second conference title in 54 years, finishing with 52 points to easily outdistance Auburn (45.2), Belvidere North (45) and defending champion Hononegah (44.8). Rounding out the field were: Guilford (37.2), Harlem (28), Belvidere (25.2), Boylan (24.6), East (6.8) and Jefferson (4.2).
This is the fifth league tennis title in Freeport history. The Pretzels tied Rockford West for first in 1964, the first year of the modern NIC-10, and also won in 1969 and 1970.
Those 1995 players, led by Freeport’s greatest player, Derek Rasheed, also took second by just a point to Guilford in 1996.
“Those kids were always calling me up at night — even at 11 o’clock — asking, ‘Can we get into the Racquet Center.’ Eventually, they would twist my arm,” said Schradermeier, who ran Freeport’s indoor tennis facility at the time.
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His current players have the same attitude.
“We go practice on our own a lot to get a better feel for the game,” said JC Herrera, who teamed with Caden De Jong to win the No. 1 doubles title.
“We put in the work every day and also practice on our own.” said Carlos Delavin, who teamed with Diego Robles-Sanchez to take first at No. 2 doubles. “It’s fun having a good team around us.”
And a team win this was. Owen Helm, the team’s only senior, took third at No. 1 singles. Alex Cuatlatl took second at No. 2 singles, falling to Auburn’s Armaan Farokhi in three sets. It’s top two doubles teams took first, both in tight three-set matches against Belvidere North. And Colin Helm and Charlie Wiedemeyer took fourth at No. 3 doubles for balanced success in every category.
“It means the world for us to come out here and get it done,” Herrera said. “Everyone is a community.”
“Somebody,” Schradermeier said, “picks everybody up every night. When one person has fallen down, someone else picks them up.”
“It’s better,” Robles-Sanchez said, “for us to win together than have one person holding the whole team up. It’s better for us to all put in the work and win together.”
And with only one senior on this team, Freeport figures to have plenty of time to make sure the Pretzels get their title year engraved on the traveling trophy.
“It’s a good feeling we won today,” Delavin said. “And we’re going to win it next year. And more years to come.”
Also Hononegah sophomore Braden Monson won his second title at No. 1 singles, beating Auburn’s Austin Altangerel 6-2, 6-2.
Next up is sectionals in two weeks. Freeport’s only sectional titles are in 1988, 1996 and 2001.
“We’ve gone crazy this season,” Helm said. “I don’t know if we can win the sectional title, but we can make some noise.”
Contact: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com, @matttrowbridge or 815-987-1383. Matt Trowbridge has covered sports for the Rockford Register Star for over 30 years, after previous stints in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Balance brings Freeport school's 1st NIC-10 tennis title in 29 years
