TOPEKA – The burden that Wyatt Shultz carried with him into this year’s Class 4A state tournament was not that of being the No. 1 seed in the singles draw.
 
His present standing as the tourney favorite never even crossed his mind.
 
Instead, it was the past that has weighed the heaviest on the Parsons senior.
 
Each of his first three state tournament appearances had resulted in the same finish, a runner-up showing one spot away from the state championship he knew he was more than capable of claiming. And though he still was confident he had what it took to get that title, Shultz admitted some level of doubt did creep into his thoughts.
 
“Definitely, it did,” he said. “I’d gotten there so many times and lost. It was definitely getting to me.”
 
Saturday at Kossover Tennis Center in Topeka, Shultz once again found himself on the brink of a state championship, reaching the state singles championship match for the fourth straight season. But instead of doubts, Shultz left no doubt.
 
After battling some initial nerves and a strong start from finals opponent Janmejay Patwardhan of Hesston, Shultz settled down and settled in. He took out all of his past frustrations in a big way, pulling free from an early 2-2 tie to post a dominating 6-2, 6-0 victory over Patwardhan to finally get the state title that had eluded him.
 
“Honestly, it’s a lot of relief,” Shultz said. “I’m really happy and really excited, but I’m just relieved that I could finally pull it off instead of getting to the end and not having enough. Even starting this match, I was so nervous. But I ended up settling down and pulling it out.”
 

 
Shultz burst onto the Class 4A scene as a freshman when he advanced to the state championship match, knocking off 2022 state champion Davian Spies of Buhler 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals. He couldn’t carry that momentum over to a state title, falling 7-5, 6-3 to Southeast Kansas League rival Kale Groff of Independence in the finals to cap a 24-12 season.
 
As big as the win over Spies was for Shultz, it was one he recorded during the summer between his freshman and sophomore year that went even further in cementing his championship potential in his mind.
 
At the Parsons City Championships, Shultz knocked off his father, Chris, to win the tourney title. Chris Shultz was Parsons’ first-ever state singles champion, claiming the Class 4A state title in 2001 in leading the Vikings to the team title as well.
 
“It really made me believe I was good player,” Shultz said. “My whole life, my dad would play and was really good and win all these tournaments. He taught me everything and growing up looking up to him, I thought he was the best in the world. Finally when I beat him, it really got me thinking, ‘OK, I’m good. I can play.’”
 
Shultz rode that confidence boost to a stellar sophomore season. He made it back to the state finals with just three losses, earning another showdown with Buhler’s Spies. And what a battle it was.
 
“Three and a half hours,” Shultz said. “The longest match of my life.”
 
Spies got his revenge, however, beating Shultz 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-2 to pick up his second state championship. The two then met for a third straight year at state in last year’s title match and this time, Spies completely overwhelmed Shultz with a 6-2, 6-0 victory.
 

 
Shultz took on the role of being the dominant senior in the bracket this season. Though he suffered five losses during the regular season, two came to eventual Class 3-1A state runner-up G Farha of Wichita Collegiate (8-5 and 8-6), another came to eventual 3-1A champion Amir Khicha of Wichita Collegiate and a fourth came to eventual Class 5A fourth-place finisher Harsha Maradana of Andover.
 
The only blemish Shultz deemed truly disappointing was an 8-6 loss to Andover Central’s Elias Kachelmeier at the Wichita Collegiate Tournament of Champions on a day he also lost to Farha, placing sixth at the prestigious mid-season tourney.
 
He closed out the season strong, however, dropping only four games over his final eight matches leading into the state tournament. In his first two matches at state, that dominance continued as he won 6-0, 6-1 in his first match and 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
 
After taking a 6-2, 6-2 win over Iola’s Mosiah Fawson in the semifinals, Shultz found himself back in a familiar spot. And with the title well within reach this time around, Shultz admitted he began the match pressing too much to make sure it happened.
 
“The first three games, I was really struggling, really pushing, trying to do too much,” he said. “I guess I was nervous. I started pushing and the ball on the racket, instead of ‘This ball’s gonna win,’ it’s ‘This ball is about to lose me.’ So I just calmed down and hit my shots and about the fourth or fifth game, I 100% knew I could do it and started to play really well.”
 
He dropped the first game to Patwardhan and then after winning two straight games saw Patwardhan break his serve to tie the first set at 2-2. But after breaking the Swather’s serve for the second straight time to reclaim the lead, Shultz found his groove.
 
He didn’t drop a game the rest of the way, moving Patwardhan from side to side and front to back with well-placed forehands and backhands, screaming winners and timely drop shots. At one point he even apologized to Patwardhan after a mishit shot at the net clipped the top and fell on the opposite side for a winner.
 
“I made some errors, but it was also him just hitting all the corners, the lines, everything,” Patwardhan said. “He’s just a really good player.”
 

 
The title concluded a 33-5 season for Shultz and also gave him the missing piece for his glossy high school resume, which included a 117-25 overall record. It also included a team championship for the program as Parsons shared the 2025 Class 4A crown with Winfield – the first for the program since winning four straight titles from 1999-2002, all of those coming with Chris Shultz leading the way as he also had a trio of third-place finishes in addition to his state crown in 2001.
 
As much as last year’s team title meant to Shultz – and it meant a lot – getting the individual crown to complete the career meant perhaps even more.
 
“It completes it completely,” he said. “I loved my team and they were all my best friends and so it was really fun getting that team championship. But capping my career off with an individual championship, I’m just so happy. It really does complete it.
 
“It makes everything I went through worth it and almost makes you glad that you waited until your senior year. I mean I wish I would have won more times, but those were great people that I lost to. But capping off my senior year it’s really nice.”
 
Patwardhan finished his junior season with a 29-6 record, improving from his fifth-place showing a year ago as a sophomore. After losing to Shultz in the semifinals, Iola’s Fawson won a 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 marathon third-place match against Winfield’s Josh Moore – the highest ever finish for Iola at the state tournament. Fawson finished with a 30-5 record while Moore ended the season 26-14.
 

CLASS 4A STATE TENNIS
 
At Kossover Tennis Center, Topeka
 
SINGLES
 
Championship – Wyatt Shultz, Parsons def. Janmejay Patwardhan, Hesston, 6-2, 6-0. Third place – Mosiah Fawson, Iola def. Josh Moore, Winfield, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Fifth place – Rylan Unruh, McPherson def. Cooper Bohme, McPherson, 8-4. Seventh place – Reece Knight, El Dorado def. Copeland Quiett, Winfield, 8-4. Ninth place – Maverick Peterson, Wellington def. Brody Cooley, Independence, 8-3. 11th place – Henry White, Hesston def. Cayden Davis, Buhler, 8-1.