Former Lady Spartan To Lead MHS Boys' Tennis Team
07 Aug 2008

by Shaun Tilghman
Sarah Conwell, of Kokomo, was recently named as the new boys tennis coach for Manchester High School.
Conwell is a 2008 graduate of Manchester College and was a two-sport athlete throughout her college career, participating in both tennis and basketball. She was a four-year member of the varsity tennis team at Northwestern High School, Kokomo, and at MC she played both singles and doubles tennis during the fall and spring seasons.
Manchester College athletes compete in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Conwell was a member of four conference championship teams in tennis and two in basketball. She also helped the Spartan basketball team win three conference tournament championships while earning three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. As a member of the tennis team, she earned two such appearances in the NCAA tournament.
Conwell was recognized as All-HCAC in tennis during the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons. In conference championship play, she was the #6 singles champion and part of the #3 doubles champion in 2004, #4 singles champion in 2005, #2 singles runner-up and #1 doubles runner-up in 2006, and #2 singles champion and #1 doubles runner-up in 2007. She also received Academic All-Conference honors in both tennis and basketball during the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons.
Conwell is taking over the position as former coach Eric Christiansen continues his duties coaching the men's and women’s tennis teams at MC. She takes the reigns of a team which finished 13-3, won the Three Rivers Conference Champioship, and had a doubles team advance to the IHSAA State Championships last year, but, which has only one varsity player from last year’s roster remaining. In all, Coach Conwell has two freshmen, three juniors and two seniors on this year’s team.
“We are definitely an inexperienced team as Kyle (Lahman) is the only returning member of last year’s varsity team, but I’m hoping that our upperclassmen will step-up and play to their potential in filling the varsity roles,” Conwell said.
Christiansen, who coached Conwell this past spring at Manchester College, is confident that Conwell will make an impact in her first year at MHS.
"Sarah is one of the brightest and hardest working people I have ever met," Christiansen said. "She essentially played 12 seasons of college athletics, and was at the top of her class academically. That doesn't happen by accident. I'm confident that she will implement her work ethic onto the boys' team."
Conwell remains optimistic despite the lack of significant varsity experience from a majority of her players, and she believes that they will be able to remain competitive throughout the season if they work hard and work together.
“As any first-year coach knows, an important aspect of your success and of your team’s success involves establishing a good rapport with your players,” said Conwell. “I believe that, in having just made the transition from being a player myself, I will be able to relate more closely to my players as individuals. I also feel confident that I can draw upon experiences with my own coaches in order to lead this team effectively. ”