Opinion by Tyler Hansen
: He's good with a lob, aces in the lab
Limited playing time
part of bigger picture
for studious Falcon
Opinion by Tyler Hansen
Biafra Ahanonu does not have time to throw a pity party. He would not want to, anyway.
Ahanonu, a senior on the Catalina Foothills tennis team, is one of the city's best players and a key reason the Falcons have won the state championship three years in a row.
He could complain that his role in the pristine Foothills dynasty has diminished this season. After all, he helped keep the team afloat last season when a string of injuries to three top players thrust him into the No. 1 singles role for part of the year.
He succeeded. Foothills won state. All was perfect.
Now? Ahanonu often cannot crack the Falcons' top-six singles rotation. He only has himself to blame, really.
"The kid has so much going on; I don't know how he does it all," Foothills coach Robb Salant said. "One of the kids comes up to me the other day and says, 'Did you hear Biafra just got accepted to MIT?'
"Biafra understands there is much more to life than winning a tennis match."
An acceptance to MIT — Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world's premier universities — is only the tip of the iceberg for one as gifted as Ahanonu.
He wakes up early every morning and goes to school to tutor other Foothills students. After classes, he practices or competes with the tennis team. He'll often then go play pickup soccer games "to get more exercise in."
Homework ensues for several hours. If he is ever idle, he makes himself busy by taking part in National Honor Society activities or — get this — reading the news.
He works on the weekends as a youth soccer referee or at his parents' Foothills area car wash. His downtime is spent pondering which school he will choose: MIT, Stanford, Penn or several other schools that are wooing him.
"It can be hard to invest enough time in anything between sports and school and volunteer work," Ahanonu said. "Sometimes, if I feel overwhelmed, I'll cut one or two things out."
Tennis became one of the victims. Ahanonu stopped playing on the USTA junior circuit last year. He admits that his game is not as sharp as it was, but his résumé is still close to spotless.
He has done anything and everything for Foothills, a consistent winner in singles play in the team state playoffs and a state runner-up in doubles every year of his prep career. The only doubles players to ever beat Ahanonu's tandem at state were other Foothills kids.
Across the board — singles and doubles, team and individual matches — Ahanonu is 35-2 against non-Foothills opponents in the regional and state playoffs.
But because of the Falcons' current wealth of talent — Salant calls it the best team he has had in 24 years as a coach — the tested and proven Ahanonu is often a reserve.
"Some people think it's a 'happy problem' to have, but it's not," Salant said. "Kids like Biafra could go to most other schools in town and be their No. 1. Here, he's a great part of the puzzle. Even when he's not playing, he shows up to watch the other guys."
Ahanonu said: "I thought it would happen this way, but I'm fine with it. It's very competitive, but we haven't lost any friendships fighting for a spot."
As much fun as tennis provides him, he was wise enough to recognize greater things are ahead. He is part of the Foothills Science Olympiad Team that won the state tournament last month and will compete at the National Science Olympiad Competition in Washington, D.C., on May 31.
He studies forensics, astronomy and oceanography and says he likely will major in neuroscience and minor in entrepreneurial business.
His dream?
"I hope to someday start a medical practice and set up a charity organization for people who cannot afford high-level surgery," he said.
You cannot make up stuff this good.
This and that
● Marana senior swimmer Angela McCollam is expected to sign a letter of intent this week with Minnesota State University Moorhead.
McCollam, who helped Marana to its best performance ever last fall (ninth place at the 4A-I state meet), was a state qualifier in the 200 free and 500 free and will swim the freestyle events for Division II MSUM.
● Salpointe Catholic all-star volleyball setter Marisa Cornejo selected Columbia University as her college recently and will play for the Division I school in New York City. Cornejo weighed scholarship offers from eight schools for athletics and academics, including NYU and Wellesley.
● Joe Chiusano, captain and all-star defensive lineman for Santa Rita's football team, has decided on his next move. He will play for Pomona-Pitzer Colleges, a Division III school in California, in the fall.
At the buzzer
Noticeably absent from the local tennis courts this season is Dominic Bermudez, a home-schooled student who won the 4A-II singles state championship last year as a freshman on Palo Verde's roster.
Bermudez effectively ended his high school career a couple of weeks ago and moved to Phoenix to live and train with renowned coach Alex Ramirez.
Bermudez was undefeated in the Titans' first six matches this year — winning all but one 6-0, 6-0 — before making the decision to focus on the USTA junior circuit and leave his Palo Verde teammates behind.
"It was an extremely difficult decision, harder than I ever thought it would be," he said Thursday. "I knew I wanted to pursue a pro career, but at the same time my team was so important to me. They were really disappointed."
Bermudez, 16, continues to dominate the USTA's Southwest section. He is ranked No. 3 in the Boys 18 Singles Division and last month placed third at the Arizona Junior Open.
He surely would have won the state title again this year — and the next two — but greater opportunities beckon.
Ramirez "thinks I have the potential to go as far as I want in tennis and turn pro," Bermudez said. "I couldn't pass this up."
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