This was a strong season, full of memorable moments. Cathedral High School boys tennis continued its strong tradition in 2024 – and if it wasn’t an easy season, it was a fulfilling one. Lofty goals were set, and many were accomplished. “It was the most positive season we’ve had in my four years here,” Jeff Giles said. The ’24 Irish in Giles’ fourth season as head coach finished 9-8, again navigating one of the state of Indiana’s toughest schedules en route to many highlight moments. Those moments included: *A fourth consecutive City Championship. *A second consecutive sectional championship. *A regional championship. “From a record standpoint, you might look and say, ‘Gosh, these guys were 9-8; that was kind of a mediocre season,’’ Giles said, “but it was very positive as far as reaching our goals.” The Irish in 2024 were: *No. 1 singles (22-2), senior Charlie Coleman. *No. 2 singles, junior Chris Wojtalik. *No. 3 singles, junior James Langfeldt. *No. 1 doubles, senior Zach Hanchar and junior Ryan Wernke. *No. 2 doubles, senior Oliver Berle and sophomore Tanner Wernke. The Irish, who finished the season No. 20 in the Indiana High School Tennis Coaches Association rankings in 2024, beat Lawrence North 5-0 in the Section 27 semifinal and beat Heritage Christian 5-0 in the sectional final. They then beat Bishop Chatard for the third time in the season, 3-2, in the regional semifinal before beating Franklin Central 5-0 for the regional title. It marked the second consecutive sectional title for the Irish. “It’s good to start getting some of these successes again,” Giles said, calling the semistate appearance “a huge, huge success for the program.” The Irish then lost to Columbus North 4-1 in the semi-state round, with all eight of the Irish’s losses for the season coming to teams ranked in the Top 20 in the state at the time of the match. “That’s exactly what you want,” Giles said. “That’s what I talk to the guys about: ‘There are going to be ups and downs.’ We play one of the hardest schedules in Central Indiana on purpose. We talk about playing a tough schedule but not shying away from having lofty goals.” The Irish also finished second to Bloomington South in the Buckley division of the John Shirley Invitational – the best finish at the prestigious early-season tournament in program history – and won the Carroll Invitational. The Irish beat Homestead 3-2 in the Carroll semifinal and Hamilton Southeast in the final. The 2024 season was strong in the present and encouraging for the future, with the Irish also in 2025 expected to add multiple players from a strong jayvee team to a roster that should return four of seven varsity players. “It’s going to be tough, but it’s promising,” Giles said. “We’re excited about next year as we kind of turn our focus to that. Obviously, you're very concerned when you when you lose an elite player like Charlie, but I think we're set up nicely having a couple of juniors (Wojtalik and Langfeldt) that are projected now to move into No. 1 and 2 singles as seniors. “We're fortunate to have a handful of sophomores that are playing really well and a couple of freshmen. I'm excited about it. We have a good pipeline and some good development in that eight-to-12 range, which I'm really excited about.”