Federal Way freshman Mitch Stewart took the first step toward his ultimate goal of winning a state tennis championship Tuesday by claiming the South Puget Sound League singles title at Kent-Meridian High School.

Stewart, one of the top junior players in the nation, easily swept Beamer’s Joseph de la Cruz in the final, 6-0, 6-1. De la Cruz, a junior, has played in the last two state tournaments, finishing in sixth place as a freshman.

Stewart and de la Cruz will lead a group of 10 singles’ players to the West Central District Tournament, which will be played in May.

Stewart is currently the 32nd ranked junior in the nation and finished as the consolation runner up at the United States Tennis Association’s Boys 14-under National Championships in San Antonio during the summer. After losing his first-round match, Stewart won nine matches in a row.

A lot of people expect Stewart to become just the second four-time state champion in Washington high school tennis. Kentwood’s Max Manthou won four straight from 2007-10 and is now playing at the University of Washington.

On the doubles’ court, it was all Thomas Jefferson in the SPSL championship match Tuesday at Kent-Meridian. Brothers Kainoa and Makoa Rosa easily defeated teammates Brandyn Gomez and Alex Lee in the final, 6-3, 6-0.

Both teams will play at the West Central District Tournament. The Rosa brothers finished in fifth place at last year’s state championships.

Kentridge edged Jefferson for the SPSL team title Tuesday. The Chargers finished with 36 total points, compared to 34 from the Raiders. Federal Way finished fifth with 14 team points.

Girls Soccer

The Todd Beamer Titans got a late goal from Jasmine Brilliante in the 80th minute Tuesday to tie the Federal Way Eagles, 1-1, at Federal Way Memorial Stadium. The tie kept the Titans atop the SPSL South with a 7-0-4 record and Federal Way moved to 4-3-3.

The Eagles’ Sydney Slaggs tallied the first goal of the game just after halftime on a pass from Haley Ward.

The Decatur Gators (4-1-0, 7-3-0) moved into a tie for first place in the SPSL 3A with a 3-1 win over Auburn Mountainview Tuesday. Mountainview (4-1-0) took a 1-0 lead in the 48th minute, before the Gators tallied three straight goals. Ashley Graves scored in the 50th minute, Abby McFaul scored in the 66th and Maggie Hale finished the game with a goal in the 76th minute.

Swimming

The Thomas Jefferson Raiders got a big win over Federal Way Tuesday, 111-75, at the Federal Way Community Center pool. The Raiders got a pair of wins from Amber Cratsenberg in the 50- and 100-yard freestyles. Cratsenberg is the defending state champ in both events.

Jefferson also got wins from Savannah Coe in the 200 individual medley (2:17.63) and 100 breaststroke (1:13.28), Monica Church in diving (247.55 points) and Amanda Ziccarelli in the 500 free (6:35.90).

The Eagles picked up two individual wins from Kenna Ramey in the 200 free (2:08.28) and 100 backstroke (1:06.71). Kaia Barth won the 100 butterfly for Federal Way in 1:02.00.

Cross Country

The Federal Way boys and girls cross country teams swept Beamer and Curtis Wednesday. The Eagle boys beat Beamer, 22-33, and Curtis, 21-38. The girls downed Beamer, 23-34, and edged Curtis, 26-29.

Meron Simon won the boys’ race at Curtis High School in a time of 16:02, Brandon Williamson finished third (17:07) and Patrick Crews was fourth (17:22).

On the girls’ side, Jasmine Johnson won the race by nearly two minutes at Curtis. Johnson finished in 19:23 and Curtis’ Ellie Lewis was second in 21:18. Federal Way’s Khianna Duncan was fourth in 21:57.

The Jefferson girls swept Kent-Meridian, 24-41, and Kentwood, 21-40, Wednesday at TJ. The Raiders were led by the third-place finish of Brianna Calveri (20:14) and Leah Kiyohara ended up fourth in 20:26.

The Raider boys lost to both Kent-Meridian, 26-29, and Kentwood, 23-38, Wednesday, despite the third-place finish from Chase Braxmeyer.

Volleyball

The Decatur Gators (1-6, 2-10) lost in four games to Lakes Wednesday in four games, 25-20, 25-20, 28-26, 25-21. It was Lakes first win in the SPSL 3A division.

The Gators got nine kills from Alishia Wilson, 10 kills from Christina Sessoms and 17 digs from Kendall Jenson.

Jefferson (0-5, 1-8) remained winless in the SPSL North with a four-game loss to Kentlake Wednesday, 26-28, 25-19, 25-15, 25-22. Allie Crowe had seven kills and four aces and Beauty Jackson finished with 10 kills and seven blocks for the Raiders.

Puyallup swept Federal Way Wednesday, 25-15, 25-8, 25-15. The Eagles (0-4, 4-7) got five kills each from Luaipou Lologo and Carly Bottemiller.