Mike Kraft/MDN Nolan Moore and the Magicians are the No. 3 seed from the West Region and will play Grand Forks Central in the opening round of the boys tennis state dual tournament on Thursday, Oct. 9, in Grand Forks.

Flashback to October 1993.

Moviegoers are lining up at their local movie theaters to see Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes star in the new action sci-fi thriller Demolition Man or the true story of the 1988 Jamaican bobsleigh team in Cool Runnings.

Music lovers were singing along to Mariah Carey’s “Dreamlover,” Meat Loaf’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” and Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants.”

A Big Mac from McDonalds with French fries and a drink cost $2.99 and a gallon of gas would only set you back $1.11.

In the world of North Dakota high school athletics, Bismarck St. Mary’s won its one and only boys tennis state title, bringing the championship trophy back to the westside of the state after a four-year run by the East Region. Little did anyone know at the time, but the following year, the EDC would reclaim the championship trophy and refuse to give it back to the WDA.

Coaches and players know the history all too well at this point, but the EDC has won the last 31 state titles in boys tennis, fueled by a 17-year run that saw Grand Forks Red River win it every season thanks to the guidance and development of the Wynne twins – Tim and Tom – the local pros at the Center Court Fitness Club in Grand Forks at the time.

Tom Wynne now serves as the head coach for Grand Forks Central, a team Minot High will match up with in the quarterfinal round of the state dual tournament, which begins on Thursday, Oct. 9, at 10 a.m. at Choice Health & Fitness in Grand Forks. The Knights have won the second-most state titles in North Dakota boys tennis history with 12, three of which have come since 2020.

“For a lot of years, it’s definitely been East-dominanted since 1994, but probably 18 of those years has been Grand Forks Red River,” Minot High coach Scott DeLorme said. “Grand Forks Central has a couple mixed in there. Fargo North and Sheyenne now have a few mixed in, but for so many years it was Tim and Tom Wynne, the pros at the Grand Forks Indoor, who built a program for 20 years and they just produced tennis player after tennis player. A lot of the East’s success goes back to those two guys. Those two guys don’t necessarily do as much teaching anymore, but now Tom Wynne is the coach at Grand Forks Central. He coached at UND for a number of years. They produce a lot of good tennis players, and then it’s kind of a mental psyche a little bit that when you get there, the East is the powerhouse. The West has caught up in many ways, but we haven’t been able to get over the top. We’ve been able to finish second, third and fourth often, we just haven’t been able to crack that top spot.”

The Magicians are the third seed out of the West Region after defeating Bismarck Century, 3-2, in a state qualifier to advance to their 16th consecutive state tournament. Minot High is 72-62 lifetime in state tournament matches and has three titles – the last coming in 1988 – 11 runner-up finishes, three third-place finishes, seven fourth-place finishes and 13 fifth-place finishes.

DeLorme admitted that the journey to a fourth state title would be an arduous one and require a lot to break in their favor, as he considered West Fargo Sheyenne and Grand Forks Central to be the top two teams in the state heading into the tournament. But that doesn’t take away from the season the Magicians have had with all the turnover on their roster.

“Coming into the season, our expectations were to get to the state tournament with this crew,” DeLorme said. “We thought that was a reasonable expectation and they achieved that. Now with going to the state tournament, I think a top-five finish would be a great success. The first round is definitely winnable, it won’t be easy, but if we were to get into that consolation side, Fargo North who we would match up with, we beat 3-2 earlier in the year and then very possibly a West team or a lower seed in the fifth-place match, I think a top-five finish would be a fantastic tournament for this weekend.”

The Magicians were 5-2 against the East Region this season and 1-1 against teams in the state tournament field. They defeated Fargo North and fell to defending champion Sheyenne. During the West Region tournament, DeLorme kept his three singles players mostly the same across the three matches, with the other exception being swapping Tyson Barden out at No. 3 singles for Connor Ressler against Century. Nolan Moore went 2-1 at No. 1 singles and Oliver Thompson was 3-0 at No. 2 singles.

On the doubles side, DeLorme used three different combinations for both No. 1 and No. 2 doubles. The six different pairings went a combined 3-3.

The Knights finished the regular season 11-2 overall and 8-1 in the EDC. They were both the regular season runners-up and the EDC tournament runners-up, with West Fargo Sheyenne taking the top spot in both. They have talent at the top of their roster with Jason Ling at No. 1 singles and Rylan Spicer at No. 2 singles. With just five points up for grabs in a match, DeLorme knows the margin for error is slim to none.

“They are aggressive,” DeLorme said. “They have a No. 1 player in Jason Ling who probably hits the ball as hard as any high school player I’ve ever seen. It’s pretty impressive how hard he hits it. They generally have a lot of hockey kids, so they are very aggressive and they are very athletic. They aren’t usually tennis-specific people, but they are generally great athletes at Grand Forks Central and that’s what they have again this year. They have athletes they throw at you that are capable of playing different styles of tennis, which is always scary. With a tennis player, you can pick and choose how to attack, but an athlete can usually find a way to attack you. That’s definitely a concern for us.”

Ling finished fifth at the state individual tournament last season, but this season, he and Spicer are the top doubles pairing out of the EDC.

Along with the Magicians, the other three WDA representatives tasked with snapping the EDC’s decades-long winning streak are Mandan, Bismarck Legacy and Jamestown. For the EDC, West Fargo Sheyenne, Grand Forks Central, Grand Forks Red River and Fargo North are trying to keep the title on their side of the state.

The WDA’s drought has gone on so long that St. Mary’s doesn’t have its own boys tennis team anymore, but rather co-ops with Bismarck High. While each WDA wants to be the one to snap the streak, at this point they all find themselves rooting for one another once they have been knocked out of title contention.

Mandan nearly ended the streak last year, with the final match being decided by a super tiebreaker. West Fargo Sheyenne defeated the Braves, 3-2, and Sheyenne’s Brandt Aslakson topped Mandan’s Ryan Bitz, 6-2, 5-7, 10-4, to capture the title.

The Braves are seen as the WDA team with the best chances of winning the title. They open the tournament against Fargo North and would play the winner of Grand Forks Central and Minot High in the semifinals before most likely matching up with West Fargo Sheyenne in the title match once again.

“It’s gotten old over the years watching East teams win it year after year and I would say Mandan has as good of a shot as anybody,” DeLorme said. “Sheyenne is the favorite and Mandan is a close second. Grand Forks Central is up there. I think the streak is closer to ending than some people want to admit or some people think, but it’s just going to take one big match to have a breakthrough. Mandan came down to a super tiebreaker last year. We’re close. I do think the streak is going to end in the next few years and it very possibly could be this year if Mandan or Legacy or hopefully Minot High has the right weekend.”

The entirety of the dual tournament takes place on Thursday, Oct. 9, with the title match beginning at 6 p.m.