By John Mesh
The Buhler High School boys tennis team captured second place at the 11-team McPherson Invitational Saturday, just 5 points behind first-place Manhattan.
In a 20-player singles draw, Buhler’s Davian Spies reached the finals for the fourth consecutive year, coming up just short in the championship match to finish second.
Tucker Schlatter lost a tough first-round matchup vs McPherson. He battled to go 1-1 on the backside, losing an 8-6 marathon to Goddard Eisenhower in his last match.
In a 21-team doubles field, Von Woleslagel and Reuben Harder won the doubles championship by knocking off McPherson in the finals. It was their third consecutive doubles title to start off the year, bringing them to 11-0 on the season.
Buhler’s other doubles team of Titus Bortzfield and Jaxton Gillette nearly pulled off the upset of the tournament, losing an 8-6 match to second-seeded McPherson in the second round.
Bortzfield and Gillette battled on the backside of the draw and eventually finished 13th.
Former Hutchinson Blue Dragon/Tennessee offensive lineman Larry Johnson III enters transfer portal
According to Rivals.com, VolReport and a post on his Instagram page, Tennessee is losing junior offensive tackle Larry Johnson III to the spring transfer portal window.
Johnson played his first season of college football at Hutchinson Community College
Johnson, 6-foot-7, 350 pounds, was entrenched in the battle for the right tackle position alongside five-star freshman David Sanders Jr. throughout spring camp.
As a redshirt sophomore, he appeared in five games, including the first four of the season. In this time, he played 133 snaps.
Johnson’s freshman year was spent in the junior college ranks with Hutchinson Community College. He was the No. 53 juco prospect.
He was named to the All-KJCCC first team as a freshman and helped lead the Blue Dragons to an undefeated regular season and a berth to the NJCAA National Championship game.
This landed him offers from a dozen Division I programs before he picked the Vols and was moved to tackle.
Johnson is from Savannah, Ga., where he played high school football. He played for Jenkins High School, helping the program reach the AAA playoffs in four consecutive seasons.
Nice work Crusader Tennis team!