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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural, which captured the Class 6A state championship, leads the 2025 Topeka All-City boys soccer team with five first-team picks.

The Junior Blues are represented on the 16-member first team, selected by city coaches, by seniors Draden Chooncharoen (midfield), Brandon Hamilton (defense), Liam Morrison (defense) and Dylan Willingham (forward) and junior Brodye Kocher-Munoz (forward) while Rural coach Brian Hensyel was voted the city coach of the year after the Junior Blues posted a 19-1-1 record.

Draden Chooncharoen, Washburn Rural

Brandon Hamilton, Washburn Rural

Liam Morrison Washburn Rural

Dylan Willingham, Washburn Rural

Brodye Kocher-Munoz, Washburn Rural

Hamilton, Morrison and Willingham are all first-team repeat picks.

Shawnee Heights, Topeka High and Topeka West all put three players on the All-City first team, while Cair Paravel Latin and Seaman both put one player on the team.

Camden Granado, Shawnee Heights

Jason Slay, Shawnee Heights

Mason Haas, Shawnee Heights

Shawnee Heights is represented on the All-City team by seniors Camden Granado (forward) and Jason Slay (defense) and junior Mason Haas (midfield), with Granado and Haas first-team repeat picks.

Neri Diaz-Mayorga, Topeka High

Neri Diaz-Mayorga, Topeka High 

Topeka High put three players on the All-City team -- seniors Neri Diaz-Mayorga (midfield) and Billy Lutz (goalkeeper) and junior Carlos Acosta-Martinez (midfield).

Lutz is a repeat first-team selection while Diaz-Mayorga made the first team in 2024 for Highland Park.

Valentin Del Real, Topeka West

Diego Gonzalez-Talavera, Topeka West

Giancarlo Valenzuela, Topeka West

Topeka West is represented on the first team by sophomore Valentin Del Real (midfield), junior Diego Gonzalez-Talavera (forward) and senior Giancarlo Valenzuela (midfield), with Del Real and Gonzalez-Talavera first-team repeaters.

Nathan Keys, Cair Paravel

Cody Quy, Seaman

Cair Paravel put senior Nathan Keys (forward) on the All-City team while Seaman is represented by senior Cody Quy (forward).

Willingham was named the Centennial League player of the year this fall for the second straight season while Rural's Chooncharoen, Hamilton, Kocher-Munoz and High's Acosta-Martinez and Diaz-Mayorga were also first-team picks.

Shawnee Heights' Granado was named the United Kansas Conference player of the year while Haas and Slay and Topeka West's Del Real, Gonzalez-Talavera and Valenzuela were all named to the All-United Kansas Conference first team.

2025 TOPEKA ALL-CITY SOCCER

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

The 2024-2025 campaign ended at 14-8 and a first-round appearance in the State Tournament for Topeka West boys basketball last year under then first-year head coach Christian Ulsaker.

That was the Chargers' first trip back to the big dance since 2022 after they were the runnerups in Class 5A in 2021.

Topeka West senior Malakyah Duncan was a second-team All-Shawnee County pick last season for the 14-8 Chargers. [File photo/TSN]

Senior Keimani Paul is a top returner for Topeka West, receiving Second 10 All-Shawnee County honors last season. [File photo/TSN]

Ulsaker is appreciative of what legendary coach Rick Bloomquist brought to the USD 501 community and the tradition of having all his players ready for any situation, and Ulsaker said it’s his job to uphold that.

“My saying this year is the standard is the standard, this is what we want it to be and where it’s going to stay and we got to continue to do that,” Ulsaker said.

The Chargers will have three starters back from last year's team but the goal is to develop the collective with what the Chargers have and Ulsaker is confident this group can do that.

“I’m ready to see some of those now upperclassmen fill those voids that might be missing from last year,” Ulsaker said.

“My goal this year is a player-led team. I want a group that’s going to stick together through thick and thin, deal with adversity really well and be able to do that together. They won’t need a rah rah speech from the coach at halftime, they’ll be able to do it themselves.”

Ulsaker said West wants to continue to be a top team in 5A like area schools Shawnee Heights, Highland Park, Seaman, etc. and the United Kansas Conference helps with that and there’s never any Tuesday or Friday nights off.

Some things you’ll see with the Chargers are athleticism, high basketball IQ and that the players are in the gym constantly.

Ulsaker said they’ve seen a lot of different scenarios which he said is hard to coach if they’ve never seen it but they have. 

“I genuinely think this team loves each other,'' Ulsaker said. "That’s a huge thing for a team to have success is to see their teammates have success. It doesn’t have to be about ‘me’, they want them to have success and be happy for their teammates because they’re almost like brothers,” Ulsaker said. 

Guys who can help with that are MalakyahDuncan, Keimani Paul and Jayveon Traylor to name a few.

“Our chemistry is through the roof and I’ve been playing with them for a while now and it’s been great,” Traylor said.

“Our quickness and our size (are plusses). Our size will be nice this year.”

Ulsaker will show his intensity and emotion in practices and games and that feeds into the team

“I’m able to coach them that way because they know I truly love them,” Ulsaker said. “They understand that they can come into my office and call me whenever they need and I’ll be there for them.

"You can’t have a relationship where you can constructively criticize a player if they don’t think you love them. These kids are allowing me to coach them hard because they know off the court I’ll do whatever I can for them.”

By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Dating back to 2023, Hayden has made it to the state tournament three straight seasons.

The Wildcats got knocked out in the first round in 2023. In 2024, Hayden finished 21-5 and posted a third-place finish. Last year, Hayden finished third again with a 22-3 record.

Hailey Schmidtlein is set to start her sophomore season for Hayden after earning first-team All-Shawnee County recognition last season. [File photo/TSN]

Coach Carvel Reynoldson enters year number seven with Hayden and said the year before he arrived took over, the Wildcats only won six games.

 

Despite suffering heavy graduation losses from last season's third-place state finishing team, Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson has high hopes for his Wildcats this winter. [File photo/TSN]

There were many ups and downs at that time and Reynoldson feels like winning the Centennial League last year proves the Wildcats have turned the corner. With the team losing Millie Ramsey, Brylee Meier and Norma Greco, Reynoldson's heard that people believe Hayden will take a step back, but he doesn’t think so.

“The heart and tenacity the girls are showing me are giving me hope,” Reynoldson said. “We have a senior class that has played all four years and knows the standards and they enforce them. A lot of times, I don’t have to because they do.

"They’re an athletic group, we’re a lot faster than we were last year, we’re tenacious, but replacing what we lost is going to be difficult from a scoring standpoint. Everybody knows that, but I love the tenacity we play with.” 

Something else that sticks out is that the experience the girls have gained being at the state tournament the last couple of years, but also watching the seniors before them hold the team accountable. 

A couple of players Reynoldson will rely on heavily will be senior Kaydence Watts and sophomore Hailey Schmidtlien, who was a first-team All-Shawnee County and All-Centennial League pick as a freshman while being named the county and league newcomer of the yer.

Schmidtlien said one thing you’ll see from this group is the heart they’ll show, even though for some of her teammates, basketball may not be their number one sport.

“I think it’s been so much fun so far, I think these girls have learned a lot and you can tell. Our scrimmage day one looks nothing like it does now,” Schmidtlien said.

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