About an hour before the Region IV-4A tennis tournament, Alamo Heights' mixed doubles team of Johnny Gragg and June Wright found a warm-up court.

It was the first time either of them could recall being on the same court together.

Because of an injury to Gragg's regular doubles partner, Iris Wigosky, the night before the regional tournament, Wright, a freshman, had to fill in.

Playing together for the first time, Gragg and Wright managed to reach the final and qualify for the state tournament.

“We were determined all year to get to the state tournament,” Gragg said. “I just thought it was going to be me and Iris.”

Gragg, a senior, and Wigosky, a sophomore, entered the regional as the tournament's top seed. They hadn't lost a match against a Class 4A opponent all season.

But the night before the tournament, Gragg and Wigosky collided during practice. Wigosky fell on her right arm and suffered a broken wrist.

She didn't find out how serious the injury was until the morning of the tournament. Wright, a singles specialist who was the Mules' No. 4 player in fall, was the alternate.

“We wanted this so bad that Johnny wanted me to play wearing a splint,” Wigosky said. “I became their biggest cheerleader instead.”

Even though they hadn't played together before, Gragg and Wright almost took the regional title, losing to Boerne Champion's Mark Gorham and Allie Willig 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), 1-6 in the final.

“It's hard to imagine,” Wright said. “I wish Iris wasn't hurt and she got to go, but I'm glad we were still able to make it.”





When Pleasanton's Dima Kharchenko asked tennis coach Bob Rentfro if he could join the team, Rentfro put Kharchenko, a foreign exchange student from Ukraine, with his beginners.

Then he saw Kharchenko hit one ball.

“Dima said to me in his accent, ‘I play a little tennis,' so I put him with the beginners,” Rentfro said. “One shot later, I moved him with my best players.”

Kharchenko, 16, is from Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. He said he was a top junior player before injuries forced him to take two years off before coming to America. He arrived in Pleasanton in August and will stay until June.

Now he's Pleasanton's first participant in the state tennis tournament after finishing second in the Region IV-4A tournament.

“I was really excited to make state for Pleasanton,” Kharchenko said. “I really enjoy my life over here and I like playing for Pleasanton.”

Kharchenko speaks fluent English and is taking an advanced-placement senior English class.

He said he's adjusted to everything in Pleasanton — except the South Texas heat. Kharchenko's favorite thing about Texas: tacos.





She's graduating high school at 16 years old. She's one of the top tennis players in the nation. And she's signed with Harvard.

New Braunfels' Hideko Tachibana is making every other American teenager look bad.

“I don't know about that,” she said. “I take tennis very seriously and I take academics very seriously, but I'm just another teenager.”

Tachibana is teamed with Unicorns senior Scott Keaton in the Class 5A mixed doubles division. Keaton is also going on to play collegiate tennis — he's signed with Central Florida.

They both have one high school tournament left playing mixed doubles, an event the Unicorns have won the past two years.

Ashley Turpin and Rusty Turpin won the Class 4A state title in 2007, and Ashley Turpin repeated with Matt Dooley as her partner in 2008.

Tachibana attended Lake Travis two years ago and reached the Class 4A singles final, where she lost to her current Unicorns teammate junior Lilly Kimbell.

She transferred to New Braunfels to attend the Newcombe Tennis Academy, and this is her first semester playing for the Unicorns.

She's doing well on the court and in the classroom. Her No. 7 ranking among the nation's seniors according to tennisrecruiting.net is as impressive as her 2,170 score on the SAT.

“I love it here,” Tachibana said. “It's been two years, but I feel like it's been a lot longer, like I've been here my whole life.”

State, then Harvard

Ukraine to South Texas

With the state tennis tournament beginning Monday in Austin and Lakeway, Express-News staff writer Lorne Chan looks at how three different competitors took unique journeys to get there.