Everything came full circle for the Thorp family of Kent two weeks ago.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Keeping with a family tradition that was established well before they were born, Kennedy Catholic\u2019s Mitchell and Jamie Thorp brought home a state boys doubles tennis championship. The Thorps \u2014 Mitchell, a junior, and Jamie, a freshman \u2014 knocked off Seattle Prep brothers Evan and Drew Beckam, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6, to capture the Class 3A state title on May 28 at Kamiakin High in Kennewick.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
That capped a perfect season for Kennedy\u2019s dynamic duo, which finished the year 17-0.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The win proved particularly precious to the Thorps, who live in Kent, but attend Kennedy, which is located in Burien. While it was the first high school state championship for the brothers, it\u2019s the second overall for the family: Their mom, Maryann, won a singles title playing for Kent-Meridian in 1979 (then as Maryann Raftis). But while she won her title more than three decades ago, she also coached the younger Thorps to the title this season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was just a dream come true,\u201d Maryann said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The entire season, however, proved to be a dream come true for the entire Thorp family. Mitchell and Jamie not only posted an unblemished overall record, but lost only the one set all year \u2013 and that was in the title match.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really cool to keep that tradition in the family,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cNow we have to one-up (our mom).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Assuming they stick with doubles next season, the Thorps certainly should get that opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Thorps proved to be the talk of the Class 3A tournament as they moved through the first three rounds with utter ease. They derailed Jared Thomas and Andrew Smith of Mercer Island in the first round, 6-3, 6-4. Their precision play continued in the quarterfinals, where they throttled Columbia River\u2019s Alex Morawski and Chris Perez, 6-2, 6-2. The Thorps would not be dinged in the semifinals, either, dispatching Andrew Nguyen and Benny Tran of Sammamish, 6-2, 6-3.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In fact, it wasn\u2019t until the championship match that the Thorps hit a minor roadblock, when they dropped their first set of the season. After cruising through the opening set (6-2) against the Beckam brothers, the Thorps appeared primed for another sweep with a 5-2 advantage in the second.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe almost broke them,\u201d Mitchell noted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Instead, the Seattle Prep duo stormed back to take the set, 7-5.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Facing adversity for the first time in their season, Maryann brought her boys together.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got tight and they were loose,\u201d Maryann said. \u201cBefore you knew it, they had rolled off four straight games.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
No doubt, Mom\u00a0 knew when to put on the coach\u2019s hat.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cShe got us all together, and got our frustration out,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Just enough frustration was relieved to allow the Thorps to pull out a nail-biter 7-6 finale in a match that lasted more than two hours.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very intense,\u201d Maryann said. \u201cA roller-coaster.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
A roller coaster that included the perfect family finish.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot to win the title,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIt shows that all the hard work I\u2019ve put in since age 9 … it all paid off. It\u2019s nice to get a state title and be able to say I\u2019ve got that my whole life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Of course, the Thorps might not be done just yet, though there is the possibility that both will go on to play singles next year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both want to play singles, but it could go either way,\u201d Jamie said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Regardless of what happens, one thing remains clear:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have definitely not heard the end of the Thorp brothers,\u201d Jamie said.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Everything came full circle for the Thorp family of Kent two weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Keeping with a family tradition that was established well before they were born, Kennedy Catholic\u2019s Mitchell and Jamie Thorp brought home a state boys doubles tennis championship. The Thorps \u2014 Mitchell, a junior, and Jamie, a freshman \u2014 knocked off Seattle Prep brothers Evan and Drew Beckam, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6, to capture the Class 3A state title on May 28 at Kamiakin High in Kennewick.<\/p>\n
That capped a perfect season for Kennedy\u2019s dynamic duo, which finished the year 17-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":3541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3540"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}