![Students in the National Art Honor Society work on the Mount Hood mural on the window of SouthLake Church. The students brought a variety of paints and mixed their own custom colors. “Instead of brushstrokes, we’re doing more dabbing, because it gives [a] better impression of tree foliage, rather than looking like actual brush strokes, because if we’re painting trees, we need it to look like trees,” Crawford said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/IMG_2397-1200x900.jpg)
![Main Street said farewell to summer on Aug. 30 through the second annual Chalk Walk Art Festival. Ruth Offer, Chalk Walk organizer, brought this tradition from Wyoming in an attempt to make use of the renovated sidewalks of Willamette Falls Dr. “[This is] a community event for the kids,” Offer said.](https://wlhsnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/image-12-1200x803.png)
Men’s tennis serves up a state win
The men’s tennis team won its first state title in nearly 20 years
The men’s tennis team came in first in total points on May 20. This resulted in their first state championship in nearly 20 years.
Adding on to the state titles from the 2022-2023 school year, the men’s tennis team won their first state title in nearly 20 years, with the last time being in 2004. With high placings from Jaxson Ledwith, senior, and doubles partners, Cameron Paulsen, senior, and Rhyson Chiang, sophomore, the team was able to accumulate enough points to secure the state title on May 20.
On the women’s side, Megan DeVall and Katherine DeVall, seniors, as well as Sonya Drayton, freshman, helped the women’s team finish fourth in state. Megan and Katherine came in third for women’s doubles.
Paulsen has been on the tennis team all four years of high school and is committed to continuing his education and athletic career at Linfield University, alongside teammate Nick Owens, senior. Paulsen and his doubles teammate, Chiang, took home second place in the doubles championship.
“[Chiang] and I communicated really well through the entire season,” Paulsen said. “On top of having good communication, he really helped me focus, especially during super important matches.”
On top of earning the state title, the team finished undefeated in regular season and postseason play, and won the Three Rivers League (TRL).
“We started out strong and took care of business,” Paulsen said.
The men’s tennis team was able to qualify seven players for the state tournament. Usually, around four or five players qualify from each school. The more players there are advancing to the state tournament, the more potential a school has for points to add up.
“I think we always knew advancing far in the state tournament was possible,” Paulsen said. “Once so many guys qualified, we got a much better feeling about what might happen.”
Paulsen and Chiang finished in second place for the doubles tournament, and with help from other teammates, they came first in state.
“It is super cool that I could be a part of a state championship,” Paulsen said.
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Lily Sewell, senior, is the sports section editor for wlhsNOW.com. She has spent all four years stepping up her reporting and coverage skills by taking...
