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Regional golf: Two-time defending 4A champ Hayden moves on with runnerup finish
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Wamego and Hayden's girls golf teams have gone back and forth over the last several seasons, combining to capture the past four Class 4A state team championships.
And while Wamego got the upper hand with a dominating win over two-time defending Hayden in Tuesday's regional tournament at Shawnee Country Club, the Wildcats earned another shot at the Red Raiders in next week's state tournament at Hutchinson with a runnerup regional finish.
Hayden senior Izzy Glotzbach tied for second with an 83 in Tuesday's Class 4A regional at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Led by three-time defending 4A individual champion Addison Douglass and putting all six players in the top nine, Wamego posted a four-person score of 326 while Hayden was a distant second at 366.
"They're really good, so we're going to have to play our best to compete with them, but the No. 1 thing for us was to make it out of here and get a chance to go do it (at state) and we did that,'' Hayden coach Jayson Duncan said.
"We played pretty good early and maybe need to clean up some things late.''
Douglas shot a sizzling four-under-par 69 to post a 14-stroke individual victory while the Red Raiders' Lillian Costa tied for second place with an 83, Sophia Hellman, Gentry McIntosh and Hailey Honeycutt tied for fifth with 87s and Maizie Nickel placed ninth with an 95.
Hayden's Brooke Johnson shot an 84 to place fourth and help the Wildcats finish second as a team in Tuesday's Class 4A regional at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden senior Lauren Borjon finished eighth individually with an 89 in Tuesday's Class 4A regional at Shawnee Country Club. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Izzy Glotzbach led Hayden with a tie for second place with an 83 while the Wildcats' Brooke Johnson finished fourth with an 84, Lauren Borjon placed eighth with an 89 and Kellyn Specht rounded out Hayden's top four with a tie for 20th with a 110.
Experienced Washburn women's basketball counting on another big jump in 2025-2026
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball has made steady progress in Lora Westling's previous three seasons as the Ichabods' head coach, posting a seven-win improvement during that span.
And with an experienced, talented returning cast, the Ichabods are looking forward to making another big jump in the upcoming 2025-2026 campaign.
Yibari Nwidadah
Payton Sterk
Washburn, led by All-MIAA second-team picks Yibari Nwidadah and Payton Stert, is coming off an 18-13 season with a 11-8 mark inside the MIAA and was tapped No. 2 with a conference-high six first-place votes in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the Media Poll.
And while the expectations for the Ichabods are higher than they've ever been under Westling, the former WU standout said her team welcomes the challenge.
"Nobody wants to motivate being the underdog for many years,'' said Westling, whose Ichabods are in their first full week of official preseson practice. "You kind of know when you come in that you've got to turn some things around, but if you stay the underdog something's not going well, so I'm really excited for our players and returners to kind of have some return on that investment and showing that experience matters and they're doing things the right way and setting themselves up for a chance to be really good.
''They've got to flip their mindset and make a decision that they're going to be unbeatable and they're going to be hard to beat and they're going to do their best every time and know that the results will come if their doing what they do the best they can do it.''
Nwidadah, a 6-foot-2 senior post player, and Sterk, a 5-10 senior guard, give the Ichabods two of the conference's best players to build around while Washburn also returns its other three starters -- Gabi Giovannetti (5-10 senior), Madelyn Amekporfor (5-11 junior) and Brooke Gomez (5-7 sophomore) -- along with top reserve Aniah Wayne (5-8 senior).
Nwidadah averaged 16.8 points and 8.0 rebounds last season while shooting 62.6 percent from the field and Sterk averaged 15.7 points and hit a team-high 62 3-pointers and shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line.
Giovannetti averaged 11.6 points, shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line and hit 47 3-pointers, Amekporfor averaged 7.8 points and 5.2 rebounds, Gomez averaged 4.6 points with a team-high 83 assists and Wayne averaged 5.8 points.
"I could not be more excited about this season just because of how they've worked,'' Westling said. "They're hungry, they want it and it's a pleasure to be around.''
The Ichabods have also added three transfers, Britany Kogbara (6-0 junior), Kellyn Hunter (5-4 junior) and Kylin Shipman (5-8 sophomore), who could make an immediate impact this winter.
Kogbara was a first-team juco All-American last season for Mesa Community College when she averaged 13.4 points and 9.5 rebounds, Hunter averaged 14.1 points with 40 3-pointers last season for Spring Hill College and Shipman transferred in after seeing action as a freshman for Regis.
"They're going to be a lot of fun I think for Ichabod fans,'' Westling said. "They've got some pretty impressive skill sets that are really complimentary to what we're doing and credit to my staff, they just kind of hit a home run with our recruiting class.''
Washburn will open the season on Nov. 14 and 15 in Edmond, Okla. against St. Cloud State and Southwest Minnesota State in the Central Region Challenge.
The Ichabods will make their home debut in newly-renovated Lee Arena on Nov. 21-22 in the Washburn Classic against Southwest Baptist and Metropolitan State of Denver.
A1 Lock & Key Performers Oct. 13, 2025
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Brody Anderson
BRODY ANDERSON, Seaman
Anderson, a senior cross country standout, won his second straight boys city individual title Saturday at the Shawnee North Community Center while posting his fourth individual victory of the 2025 season. A Class 5A state medalist in cross country and track, Anderson set a course record with a five-kilometer time of 15 minutes, 00.11 seconds.
Madeline Deters
MADELINE DETERS, Topeka High
A senior tennis standout, Deters won her first Centennial League singles championship last Tuesday in Junction City and followed that up with the singles title in Friday's Class 6A regional tournament at Wichita. Deters posted a 6-2, 6-1 final-round win over Emporia's Kali Keough in the Centennial League tournament and took a 6-2, 6-4 win over Junction City's Hannah Micheel in the regional final.
Emily Graf
EMILY GRAF, Washburn Rural
Washburn Rural senior cross country standout Graf won her first city girls individual championship Saturday at the Shawnee North Community Center, leading the Junior Blues to their seventh straight city team title. Coming off a hip injury, Graf clocked winning time of 19 minutes, 18.57 seconds in the city meet.
