State College tennis’ Quiana Guo wins first District 6 singles title to advance to PIAAs
Daily offseason workouts — including in subzero temperatures — paid off Wednesday when State College tennis player Quiana Guo defeated Hollidaysburg’s Gretta Rhodes (6-3, 6-1) to be crowned the District 6 Class 3A singles champ in Altoona.
Guo was one of four individual district champs — plus two team champs — for Centre County schools this week. The others coming from golf.
“To me, being a district champ meant a lot of things,” Guo said. “It shows my growth from last year to this year. It shows my dedication and motivation to reach this goal. It also shows how wonderful the people around me are for pushing me here and helping me reach where I am today. I’m excited to move to the state level and can’t wait to face new challenges.”
This is the first district title for Guo in singles, though she has won two district doubles titles with then-partner Catelyn Janac in 2019 and 2020. Guo lost last year in the singles finals to Altoona’s Morgan Stevens, whom she beat in two sets (6-4, 6-2) Tuesday in the semifinals.
Guo credits her family, friends and coaches as the keys to her success. She cites training with her father in below zero temperatures, her friends taking her on in sets back-to-back and State College head coach Jane Borden making practice and drills fun.
The junior tennis star has lost just one match this season, against Wyoming Seminary on Sept. 10, holding a 17-1 record. During that week, Guo had a number of close matchups and her training schedule was intense. Borden believes that with more rest, Guo could change the result in a rematch.
“It was a three-set match at the end of a long week and I think the other girl was very good, but if Q [Guo] were to play her again, she’d beat her,” Borden said. “Q obviously ran out of gas in that match, but we learned a lot from that and we adjusted her training schedule and she’s been doing absolutely great things since then.”
Playing tennis at the college level may not be in the cards for Guo, but it’s not due to lack of ability. The State College tennis player would like to go into medicine, a dream that she’s had since childhood. She says she may continue to play club tennis in college, and throughout her adult life.
“Eventually, I would want to play recreationally with a doubles group and help out local high school students, just like my coaches have,” Guo said. “I play with an adult doubles group and all of them are so much fun because it’s a pretty high level, but it’s also just for fun. I would like to do that in the future, just enjoy doing what I like to do with people I want to play with.”
Guo will advance to the PIAA state singles tournament in Hershey Nov. 5-6. The District 6 doubles tournament will be held Tuesday and the team championships on Wednesday in Altoona.
Centre County golfers pick up 5 district titles
Centre County golfers earned three of four individual District 6 titles this week.
State College senior John Olsen shot a low score of 74 to be crowned the District 6 Class 3A champ on Tuesday at Scotch Valley Country Club, while Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy junior Tim Peters shot a 75 to take the Class 2A crown. Bellefonte’s Riley Clute won the Class 3A girls title two days later at Windber Country Club with an 89.
All three golfers will advance to the PIAA state championships Oct. 18-19 at Heritage Hills in York.
Both State College golf teams — boys and girls — won District 6 Class 3A team titles. The boys team, which also won the Mid Penn championship on Monday, tallied 321 to beat Altoona’s 346. Point-scorers for the Little Lions were Olsen, Luke Janac (80), Max Wager (85) and Thomas Hay (82). The girls team scored 291 — with Amber Kissinger (92), Sarah Huang (97) and Hannah Kopak (102) — to beat out Hollidaysburg (310), Bellefonte (325) and Altoona (393).
Both teams will move onto the sub-regional next week at Treasure Lake.
