Catch him if you can

Going the distance with Max Manthou was tough enough already.

Nowadays, that distance must seem even longer for whomever steps across the net from the Kentwood High sophomore tennis star.

At least a mile longer.

“I’ve always gotten by on talent, but I never went the extra mile,” said Manthou, the defending Class 4A state boys singles champion. “(Now), I’m trying to get more intensity with my play. I’ve been working pretty hard. I’m hitting with many more people now, I’m lifting (weights) every morning and still playing basketball.

“I’m focusing more on the future.”

Manthou’s immediate future includes a return to state. He sealed that deal very handily on Wednesday with a pair of victories in the West Central District tourney at Sprinker Recreation Center in Spanaway. Manthou blitzed Chad Edmonds of Emerald Ridge in the first round, 6-0, 6-0, then did likewise to Kentridge sophomore Matt Overland in the quarterfinals.

That gave him a berth in Friday morning’s semifinals against Tahoma senior Dan Cotton (results unavailable) and a guaranteed trip south to Vancouver next weekend.

Kentwood coach Ingrid Bakke has noticed Manthou’s ramped-up efforts since the end of last fall’s boys regular season and South Puget Sound League tournament.

“Strengthwise, he’s just a different player,” Bakke said. “At this point, it’s a lot of a mental game. Once you know the strokes, it’s strategy and the mental part.”

Part of that mental approach is enjoying himself. Bakke has noticed that, too.

“He really wanted to play Matt (Overland),” Bakke said. “He came over to the fence after the first set and said, ‘This is fun.’ And that’s huge.”

Manthou figures he won’t have to look far to get an early taste of state. In the opposite semifinal at district are Puyallup senior Scott Sullivan and Bellarmine Prep senior Brian McPhee.

Sullivan gave Manthou a run for it early in last year’s district final before falling, 6-4, 6-1. McPhee has won back-to-back state doubles titles, but is playing singles this year.

“Those are the two dudes,” Manthou said of his toughest potential competition. “Brian and Scott are pretty close. I don’t have a preference on who I’d rather play.”

COTTON’S BIG DAY

Dan Cotton came to the West Central District tennis tournament in doubles last spring, and went two-and-out.

This year, the Tahoma senior is going it alone.

And on Wednesday, he went two-and-in.

In state, that is.

Cotton emerged as perhaps the biggest surprise on the opening day of the 4A district tourney at Sprinker Recreation Center in Spanaway. He took down Gig Harbor sophomore Max Jiganti in the first round, 6-2, 6-4, then breezed past Dalton Vavra of South Kitsap in the quarterfinals, 6-2, 6-0.

That put Cotton into Friday’s semifinals against defending district and state champion Max Manthou of Kentwood (results unavailable). The tall order against Manthou notwithstanding, it also means Cotton will be packing for a trip south to Vancouver next weekend for the state tournament.

“This has been my goal ever since my sophomore year,” Cotton said. “I never thought I would make it sophomore year (he didn’t), but I wanted to get to state at least as a senior.”

Tahoma has never had a Class 4A state boys tennis qualifier.

Cotton got into the district tournament last fall as the No. 8 of the 10 qualifiers from the South Puget Sound League tourney. Matter of fact, he was one set away from having his season end at the league level, but came back in the round of 16 to knock out Kentwood’s Tucker Siegert, 5-7, 6-4, 10-5. (The third set was a super tieberaker.)

That put him into the double-elimination portion of the tournament, and Cotton ultimately survived on the consolation side to earn a district ticket.

Since then, he has put in extra time to raise his game.

“I was playing three or four times a week all the way up to today,” Cotton said on Wednesday, adding that his serve has been his biggest improvement.

“I really stepped that up, and I was able to get them in every single time,” Cotton said.

Cotton acknowledged being a bit surprised himself at the way things went on Wednesday.

“I was expecting to win (my first one), but the second one, I wasn’t expecting to,” he said. “I think I was just having a really good day. I was focused and I really wanted it.”