When thinking of prestigious sporting events in March, there is one tournament that probably pops in the mind straight away.  Yes, the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament of course. However, this is not why we are here. An even bigger, even more important tournament is taking place within the very walls of your beloved Cape Henry Collegiate School.  

25 students. 25 paddles. One champion. It’s the first ever annual Cape Henry senior March Madness ping pong extravaganza. Nothing gives the senior boys at Cape Henry more pride than their ability to dominate the ping pong table in the senior lounge.  The #1 seed in this tournament, Aiden Kuhle, is quite confident in his abilities. In the beginning, he claimed he had “about a 60% chance of winning the whole thing.” Only a select few of other elites have been able to beat Aiden, even in casual play. One of the few students to have previously beaten the top seed is the #4 seed Aedan Somers, also known as “little Aedan” or “the inferior Aedan.”  However, these nicknames have little to no correlation to his ability to play ball. He has some serious upset potential with his “fearhand” being one of the best in the whole school. The two A(e/i)d(a/e)ns could match up in the semifinals, which would make for an exhilarating game of ping pong.

On the other side of the table, #2 seed Ethan Wolff made a shock second-round exit after falling short to the #18 seed James Tyler.  With his deceptive topspin, James has proven to be the dark horse of the tournament, as he also beat the #15 seeded Owen Richards. Other upsets have included #8 seed Kellen Marshall losing to #9 seed Cameron Ciolfi in an embarrassing 21-13 match, and #5 seed Tucker Bruner falling short to the #12 seed, George Selemaj.  George claims that the creators of the seeding “slept on him” as he believes he is a top ten caliber player.

Update:  April 5, 2019

Dark horse James Tyler’s tournament came to an end after he had a heartbreaking loss to the #7 seed Wladimir Gassant, granting him a place in the semifinals. He would play #3 seed Konrad Keenan in the semis, who had a great comeback in the quarterfinals after coming back from 10-17 down against the #6 seed, Parker Tanner-Vigil, and winning 21-19.  

On the other side of the bracket, Aiden Kuhle and Aedan Somers ended up having their famous matchup.  Both players were confident, but one ended up asserting their dominance much more than the other. Aiden Kuhle won the game 21-13, booking the #1 seed a place in the finals.  Then, it was time for the other semifinal matchup, where Wlad did not believe he had a very high chance of winning the match. He said Konrad was a “scary” opponent. His superstitions about the game ended up being justified when he was defeated by Konrad by a score of 21-13.

Next up, the finals.  Konrad Keenan vs. Aiden Kuhle. It was the most important game of their careers, and both of them were a little bit nervous. They had only played each other once before, and it was in the very beginning of the year, so nobody knew who would come out on top. The game started on Friday, April 5th during lunch, and was one of the quickest of the tournament.  Konrad Keenan was embarrassed, humiliated, and distraught, after a complete 21-9 annihilation.

Aiden Kuhle, the #1 seed proved to everyone that he deserved it. Nobody even came close to beating him the whole tournament. Congratulations Aiden, you make Cape Henry proud to be able to call you one of our own.