varsity.roanoke.com

JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Radford High School's Malik Mubeen is headed to Swarthmore (Pa.) College in the fall to play tennis and possibly study mathematics.

The Roanoke Times

File 2007 Radford's Sanjay Kishore will attend Duke University in the fall, where he possibly will major in biology. Kishore also wants to attend Duke basketball games. "It's a natural fit for me," Kishore said. "I kind of want to be a Cameron Crazie."

UPDATE (2:57 p.m.): Mubeen, O'Keefe repeat as state tennis champs; Harter, Sarver win

RADFORD -- Are you smarter than a tennis player?

Don't bet on it.

Especially when the two guys raising a racket are Radford High School seniors Malik Mubeen and Sanjay Kishore.

The two Radford players will begin their pursuit of an elusive Group A doubles championship today at Radford University, where they also hope to lift the Bobcats into a fourth consecutive team final this weekend.

While Mubeen and Kishore have yet to combine for a state tennis title, they have been members of two Radford championship teams in another arena:

Scholastic bowl.

Radford has won 12 straight Three Rivers District titles, 11 Region C crowns and five state championships in what is akin to a high school team version of "Jeopardy."

Mubeen and Kishore have been members of two Group A scholastic bowl champions, as freshmen in 2006 and again in 2008.

The two Radford students admitted their social lives did not necessarily improve after winning the state titles. And face it, the championship banners hang in the auditorium, not the gymnasium.

However, Mubeen and Kishore are not exactly viewed as pocket-protector-wearing geeks around the halls of the school.

"Radford's a small school," Kishore said. "People merge different disciplines. Like the kid who was our homecoming king was one of the members on the scholastic bowl team. He's the most popular guy in our school, so naturally people will be receptive to it."

Besides, winning is fun.

"We've always been a force to be reckoned with," Mubeen said. "We're proud of it. We know that it's not like winning basketball, but we have our heads held up high. People respect us."

And rightly so.

The scholastic bowl format calls for two four-man teams to compete head-to-head in a double-elimination state tournament.

"It's just as suspenseful when you're in close matches," Kishore said. "Sometimes I get more nervous than in tennis matches."

The first portion of a match includes 15 toss-up questions where contestants buzz in to answer. The second round has 10 directed questions, alternating between the two teams. The third round has 15 more toss-ups.

Ready?

OK. Try this sample question, and you have 10 seconds for computation.

What is the complex product of (5 plus 3i) and (8 minus 5i), given that it is equal to the simplified form of 40 minus 25i plus 24i minus 15 i squared.

Any school kid knows the answer is 55 minus i, right?

And if Mubeen and Kishore don't know the correct answer, they know who does.

"Rick," they said simultaneously.

That would be Rick Kellerman, a classmate who is described as Radford's scholastic version of Roger Federer.

"Without Rick, we would have been horrible," Mubeen said. "We try to have a balanced lineup, but as far as our specialities go, our specialty is having Rick on the team.

"It's ridiculous. He knows everything. Like 'What is the name of the Japanese stock exchange?' That's my favorite question he has answered. It's the Nikkei. Who knows that?"

"He'll answer the math question before they're finished reading it," Kishore said.

Radford teacher Elaine Argabrite has been the school's scholastic bowl coach since the team's inception. Mubeen and Kishore have been team co-captains and two of her aces.

"These two boys are especially adept at math," she said. "I am always amazed at the level and quality of knowledge they have."

Education is certainly valued in both players' families.

Mubeen's father, Muhammad, is an engineer and consultant originally from India. His mother is a native of Afghanistan whose own father was a United Nations official. Mubeen's older brother, Samad -- a 2002 Radford graduate -- is in law school at the University of Florida.

Kishore's parents, Anand and Lakshmi, are natives of India and are physicians at Carilion New River Valley Medical Center. His brother, Sunny -- Radford class of 2000 -- graduated from Duke and is in med school at Cornell.

Mubeen is headed to Swarthmore (Pa.) College to play tennis and possibly study math. Kishore will attend Duke, where he possibly will major in biology and certainly camp out for Blue Devils basketball tickets.

"I'm definitely getting ready to put my tent up or whatever," Kishore said. "It's a natural fit for me. I kind of want to be a Cameron Crazie."

Radford has the hometown advantage every year in the Group A tennis tournament, but that hasn't helped the Bobcats capture the team title since the VHSL Spring Jubilee moved to the New River Valley.

Radford has three straight runner-up finishes and must meet defending state champ Gate City in Friday's semifinals.

Mubeen is the reigning Group A singles champion and is the favorite to make it two in a row. The right-hander was the runner-up to Page County's Logan Bricker as a freshman in 2006.

"I came out and watched him play when I was in the eighth grade," Mubeen said. "He killed everybody that year. From that moment on I said, 'I want to play that guy.'

"So I got to play him the next year. He killed me. But just setting that goal for myself and accomplishing it, that was great."

Radford would like nothing better than a championship match against George Mason. The Bobcats lost to the Mustangs in the finals in 2006 and '07.

Mubeen and Kishore also fell to the George Mason doubles team of Alex Goetting and Xavier Alarcon in the 2008 doubles final.

Making matters worse for Mubeen and Kishore, it was George Mason that eliminated Radford from this year's scholastic bowl as the Bobcats finished third.

Are these Mason brains juiced with some sort of performance enhancers?

"We thought that," Mubeen joked. "But I don't think they took any steroids. They were just smarter than us."

Mubeen and Kishore are not just accomplished athletes and students. They are highly disciplined team leaders.

"They're some of the best kids you'll ever find," Radford tennis coach Cecil Hickam said. "They're just the nicest guys in the world. They come in here and listen, try to take your advice and go out there and do it."

Mubeen easily could strut like a prima donna or set himself apart from the rest of the team.

"He could," Hickam said. "But he's encouraging to others. He's never boastful about anything. A lot of kids that have talent like he does would sort of sit there and show off and talk about how great they are. I've never heard that out of him a single time."

Mubeen has added a few small wrinkles to improve his game since 2008.

"I've just tried to be a more complete player and be smarter on the court," he said.

Bet on that.