Receiving awards at the Brownstown Central boys’ tennis banquet on Wednesday night are, from left, Smith Hackman, Lane Steward, Pierson Wheeler, Carson Ferguson, and Charlie Blair.
Dakota Locker | The Tribune
Brownstown Central reflected on their 2024-25 boys’ tennis season on Wednesday evening at the high school. Coach Donnie Thomas went over the entire year, speaking on the team and individual successes, which included a regional final appearance from the one doubles team of Pierson Wheeler and Lane Steward.
Steward and Wheeler secured the sectional wins and then defeated Ted Manion and Max Baltz of North Central in the regional semifinal, 6-4, 7-5.
The duo ended their regular season undefeated with an 18-0 record and only lost once in the entire season when they both played as a duo in a 7-5, 6-2 regional final loss to Hamilton Southeastern. The duo was selected to the All-MSC team for their season and broke a couple of school records along the way.
Steward registered 23 wins during the year, which tied Wheeler’s mark from last season when he broke the record. Wheeler set a record for wins in a Brownstown Central boys’ tennis career with 79 total victories, after picking up 21 wins this season.
The Braves ended with an 11-7 dual match record and finished fourth in the Mid-Southern Conference with a 5-3 record, dropping the sectional final to Seymour.
The coach gave his thoughts on the season for the Braves.
“I thought we had another good year this season,” Thomas said. “We put those seniors as the one doubles team this year and they played well,” Thomas said. “I like to build my teams around the one doubles. We did about as well as last year without hurting much team success and allowing Pierson and Lane the chance to compete deep into the postseason.”
He spoke about the future and how it will be tough to replace their experience at first.
“I think we continued to improve this year and hopefully we will be better next season,” Thomas said. “But it’s really going to be hard to replace these guys that we just lost.”
Next season will bring a lot of fresh faces for the Brownstown Central program according to Thomas, but he’s confident they will make it work.
“Max (Peters) will be a senior next season, he’s been wanting to play some singles,” Thomas said. “I also think Brady Davis has shown some improvement, and I expect him to push Chase Brock next year. I think we have the ability to put together a group of three solid singles players.”
Wheeler, Steward, and Smith Hackman are all graduating in the spring and were freshmen when Coach Thomas came into town to coach the team. He spoke about the group of impactful seniors.
“They were freshmen when I came over from Bedford North Lawrence,” Thomas said. “They grew well as players and played from day one. They got better each year, and their records speak for themselves. They just developed, played hard and enjoyed their time here. We will miss them tremendously.”
The Braves will turn their attention to 2025.
Awards
MVP: Smith Hackman
Mental Attitude: Charlie Blair
JV Most Improved: Carson Ferguson
All-District
Lane Steward, Pierson Wheeler
All-Conference
First Team: Pierson Wheeler, Lane Steward
Honorable Mention: Smith Hackman
School Records:
Lane Steward: Most Wins in a Season (23-2)
Pierson Wheeler: Most Wins in a Career (79)